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PERSIA, THE LAND OF THE MAGI
FIFTH EDITION— REVISED.
May, 1913.
This book will be sent to any part of the world.
Address,
SAMUEL K. NWEEYA, Ph.D., M.D.
Winston Building, 1006-16 Arch Street,
Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A.
Samuel K. Xweeya, Ph.D., M.D.
PERSIA
THE LAND OF THE MAGI
OR
THE HOME OF THE WISE MEN
An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia from the Earliest
Ages to the Present Time; with a Detailed View of its People,
their Manners, Customs, Matrimony and Home Life,
Religion, Education and Literature, Textile and Con-
temporary Arts and Industries, the King, his
Court, and Forms of Punishment, Including
Afghanistan and Beloochistan.
COMPLETED IN ONE VOLUME
DECORATED WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
BY
SAMUEL K. NWEEYA, Ph.D., M.D.
Winston Building, Philadelphia, Pa.
URMIA CITY, PERSIA
I
Copyright, 1913
BY
SAMUEL K. NWEEYA
PRESS OF
THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.
1006-1016 Arch Street
PHILADELPHIA
DEDICATED TO
MY FRIENDS IN AMERICA AND ALL WHO DEVOTE
THEIR TALENTS AND TIME TO THE
UPLIFTING OF THEIR FELLOW-MEN:
To fail and fall is the fate of all men;
To rise and succeed is their common victory;
To claim exemption from the common lot of humanity, a
proof of pride and vanity;
To extend mercy and help, the evidence of a great soul:
Therefore let such as read and errors detect
Either ignore, conceal or correct,
Rather than reveal to revile:
For he is wise who is lenient
And from his brother's failings averts his eyes;
Being loath to hurt and harm
Meeting bane with balm.
Wa's Salam.
(That is all.)
INTRODUCTION.
Dear Readers: In presenting to you this volume
on his native land, the author wishes to say that in
undertaking to describe so extensive and celebrated a
region as the Persian Empire, he is by no means insen-
sible to the difficulty of the task on which he enters.
The subject is wide and intricate, while the sources of
information are frequently imperfect, or obscure; but
it has been his study by adopting a distinct arrange-
ment, and by consulting the best authorities, to pre-
sent his readers with a correct and complete picture
of that interesting portion of Western Asia.
Being a native and personally acquainted with many
parts of the country, he has availed himself of the
observations of the greater number of modern trav-
elers, both to correct his own opinions and to supply
additional facts, in describing: Persia — Its history.
Political character of the Persian Empire. The King,
his Court and his Palace. Civil and Criminal Law.
Account of the provinces of Persia. The antiquities
of Persia. Its people, home life, customs, and matri-
mony; the Mohammedan religion, its Bible and its
priesthood ; a discourse on the Arabs and their prophet ;
also Kurds, Babis and their Bible (Babism is a new
religion uprisen from Mohammedanism); a full de-
(7)
8 Introduction
scription of the Magi, or Parsee, religion and the
Wise Men of the East. Literature of Persia. Mys-
tical interpretations of Koran and metaphysical con-
ception of God according to Sufis Philosophy; Textile
and Contemporary Arts and Industries; a description
of the Nestorians and the medical mission in the East,
including Afghanistan and Beloochistan.
Should it entertain you and your children, should
it arouse in you a deeper interest in humanity and
should it prompt an earnest prayer on our behalf to
the ever-present God and Father, whom we all try to
love and to serve, then its object is accomplished.
SAMUEL K. NWEEYA, Ph.D., M.D.,
Winston Building, 1006-16 Arch Street,
Philadelphia, Pa., U.[S. A.
April, 1913.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE
I. Persia, Political Divisions, Physical Geography,
Climate, Rivers and Lakes, Settlers, Inhab-
itants, Cities, Government, Trade and History,
the Shah and his Court, the Civil and Crimi-
nal Law, Execution and the Palace 13
II. Account of the Provinces of Persia — Fars, Laris-
tan, Kuzistan, Irak, Ardelan 49
III. Account of the Provinces of Persia (Continued)
— Azerbijan, Ghilan, Mazunderan, Astrabad,
Khorasan, Kerman, Seistan, Mekran, includ-
ing Beloochistan 79
IV. Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis, Istakhar,
Mourghab, Bessittoon, Ecbatana 108
V. Antiquities of Persia (Continued) — Tauk c
Bostam, Shapoor and Its Sculptures, Naksh e
Roostum, Naksh e Rejib 134
VI. Cities, Villages, Condition of People in General,
Taxation and Kahns 149
VII. Men, Women, Girls and Boys 164
VIII. Matrimony, Life After Marriage 173
IX. Festivals, Beliefs, Mode of Burial, Superstitions,
the Dervishes, Charmers, and Kurds 186
(9)
10 Contents
CHAPTER. PAGE.
X. The Alkoran — Its Doctrine and Precepts — The
Mohammedan Priesthood, Mosque and Its
Services 197
XI. The Arabs and Mohammed, The Shiite Mos-
lem's Mu-har-ram 211
XII. Babism, Its Relation to Mohammedanism and
Christianity 226
XIII. The Magi or Parsee Religion 249
XIV. Language, The Schools, Modern Literature 260
XV. Poems from Persian Literature 282
XVI. The Persian Textile Arts, A Description of Ancient
and Modern Carpets, Runners and Rugs, in-
cluding a Detailed Discourse of Contemporary
Arts and Industries 291
XVII. Account of Afghanistan 352
XVIII. The Nestorians and Missions 391
XIX. Great Commission and Medical Mission 405
XX. Persian Stories 417
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Samuel K. Nweeya, Ph.D., M.D Frontispiece
PAGE.
Persian Passport 13
Map of Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Turkey in
Asia 14
Hussian Ahmed Mirza 22
Muzaffer-ed-Din 28
Mohammed AH 30
The Bastinado 37
The Palace of the New Shah — Sultan Ahmed Mirza —
Azad-ul Mulk 39
Plowing with Oxen— Persian Shovels 42
Persian Gardens — Plowing with Buffaloes — Cultivated
Fields 45
The Kurzee 73
A Persian Shepherd 74
Mount Damavond 81
View of the Ruins of Persepolis 101
King Darius Offers Sacrifice Unto Ormazd 105
Tombs of the Achamenion Kings at Nukshi Rustom 109
A Gate of the Capital City, Teheran 142
Interior of Tabriz Bazaar 146
Watching a Buffalo Fight 148
A Nobleman and His Staff Dining 151
A Persian Lady 153
Shah Zada Kanim of Teheran 160
A Persian Family 170
The Dervish 175
Kurdish Wedding March 179
A Group of Mullahs 191
Mosque of Imam Reza, at Mushed 192
Arabian Cavaliers 198
Mohammedan Priest and His Pupils 248
A Caravan Leader — A Camel Caravan 274
Group of Nestorians Who Live in Kurdistan, Turkey 320
Youel Benjamin Mirza 324
(11)
OFFERINGS OF THE WISE MEN.
"Let them offer gold to Him as king — for gold is the tribute
paid to kings. Myrrh also, as suited to His humanity, shall
they offer.
"Frankincense shall they offer in honor of His divinity —
for this is the symbol of sacrifice to God and He shall indeed
be the God of Gods." — Zoroaster.
"And when they had opened their treasures, they pre-
sented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
— Matt. 2:11.
TRANSLATION OF THE PASSPORT.
In the name of the Kingdom and His Majesty Shah-in-sha,
of Persia.
"This is to certify that Samuel K. Nweeya, a citizen of
said Kingdom, wishes to travel in and out of the Kingdom
and that he is free to do so and is commended to the courtesies
of its officials here and elsewhere in the world."
Signed and sealed this 19th day of Jama-di-Al-Aval, Anno
Hejira, 1310.
Nasreddin,
Shah of Persia.
MUZAFFER-ED-DIN,
Crown Prince of Persia and Governor
of Azerbaijan.
Tabriz, Persia.
(12)
J&J
Jrr-
Persian Passport.
CHAPTER I.
Persia, Political Divisions, Physical Geography,
Climate, Rivers and Lakes, Settlers, Inhab-
itants, Cities, Government, Trade and His-
tory, The Shah and His Court, The Civil
and Criminal Law, Execution, The Palace.
PERSIA, commonly called by natives Iran, is a
kingdom of West Asia, between latitude 25° 40'
to 39° 50' N., and longitude 44° 20' and 61° 35' E.
Of all the mighty empires which have flourished in
the East, that of Persia is undoubtedly one of the
most remarkable and the most celebrated. Enduring
through a succession of vicissitudes almost unparal-
leled for more than two thousand five hundred years
— by turns the prey of foreign enemies and the sport
of internal revolution, yet ever subjected to despotic
rule — alternately elevated to the summit of glory and
prosperity, and plunged into misery and degradation,
— she has, from the earliest period of her existence,
either been the throne of the lords of Western Asia or
the arena on which monarchs have disputed for the
sceptre of the East. Poor and comparatively limited
in extent, the more warlike of her sovereigns enriched
themselves and enlarged their dominions by the most
brilliant conquests; while under timid and pacific
princes not only did her acquisitions crumble away,
but her own provinces were frequently subdued by
bolder and more rapacious neighbors. Thus her boun-
daries were continually fluctuating with the characters
of her monarchs. But it is not so much our object to
(13)
14 Persia, the Land of the Magi
write the history of the great Persian empire, as to
give an outline of the annals of the country properly
so called, and to place before the reader a description
of its most remarkable features. As its natural limits
this kingdom has on its north Russia and the Caspian
Sea; on the east Afghanistan and Beloochistan ; on
the south the Arabian sea and the Persian Gulf, and
on the west the Turkish Empire and Mount Ararat.
Its territory, extending nine hundred miles east to west
and seven hundred from north to south, embraces an
area of about six hundred and thirty-eight thousand
square miles. It is divided into thirteen provinces,
viz., Ghilan, Mazanderan, Astrabad, Ardelan, Kau-
zistan, Fars, Laristan, Kerman, Irak, Azirbijan, Mek-
ran, Seistan, Kharasan.
Persia may thus be described as consisting of an
extensive central plateau, occupying at least three-
fourths of the whole surface; a series of mountain
chains encircling the plateau on all sides except the
east, and an outer border, of more or less width, con-
sisting for the most part of gentle slopes, low valleys
and level plains. The eastern part of the plateau
forms the great deserts of Khorasan and Kerman, and
is one of the most desolate regions of the globe.
Towards the west the plateau improves in appearance.
Saline incrustations are there of less frequent occur-
rence; the quality of the soil improves, and the sur-
face, being both diversified and more broken by lofty
heights, obtains more moisture, and can be success-
fully cultivated. This, indeed, holds true generally in
regard to the interior edges of the plateau, where the
mountain ranges begin to rise, tracts of considerable
fertility extending along their bases, and to some dis-
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Physical Geography 15
tance up their slopes ; but it is only on the outer edges
of these slopes, and downwards towards the plains,
that a rich, varied and magnificent vegetation is found.
This, however, does not apply to the southern moun-
tains; which, approaching close to the Persian Gulf,
leave only a narrow tract, with a southern exposure,
and so extremely hot as not only to wither up the
plants but to be scarcely fit for human habitation, and
applies only in part to the plains of the west, where
moisture is often in excess and forms extensive swamps,
from which pestilential vapors arise, but holds partic-
ularly true of the valleys and plains which have a
northern exposure and slope towards the Caspian.
Mountains. — The principal mountains are the Elburz,
in the north; theKohrud; the Shrimran, near Teheran;
and the mountains of Kurdistan, Fars (or Faristan),
Laristan and Ararat, the highest peak of which is Mount
Ararat. The central plateau has a general elevation
of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and is constantly crossed by
ranges of mountains.
The plains of Persia are very fertile and well watered.
They produce different kinds of grains, such as wheat,
rice, barley, millet and maize. In Southern Persia
sugar corn is grown. Cotton, silk, tobacco and opium
are extensively grown. Ten million pounds of cotton,
eight million pounds of wool and one million two thou-
sand dollars' worth of opium are yearly exported. Of
the fruits, there are such as grapes, apricots, pears,
peaches, almonds, apples, pomegranates, oranges,
lemons, mulberry, melons, eda or Singion date, fig,
cherry and plum, nuts and all kinds of garden vegeta-
bles, and a great variety of herbs. Flowers, both culti-
vated and wild, flourish in beauty and great variety"
16 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Animals of the temperate zone, domestic and wild, are
also found here. Trout are abundant in the mountain
streams, salmon and other fish in the Caspian Sea.
As birds of prey may be enumerated eagles, vultures,
hawks, and falcons of several sorts, with kites and
crows in abundance ; and Mr. Pottinger mentions that
he observed magpies at Kelat of Beloochistan. Among
winged game are bustards, termed by the Persians
ahoobarras, together with a smaller species of the same
bird, red-legged and common gray partridges, with a
smaller sort rather resembling the quail. The towee
or desert-partridge, also called bogra kara from its
black breast, abounds in all the plains. Pheasants,
called karagoul, are numerous in Mazunderan and
Astrabad. Storks, herons, wild ducks, plovers, and
lapwings, snipes, and divers, occur in spots suited to
their respective habits. Pelicans are seen in the wil-
derness; cormorants, curlews, and other sea-fowl fre-
quent the shores of the gulf, and, with sea-eagles and
other species, are most abundant on the banks of the
Caspian Sea. The forests which fringe that sheet of
brackish water are vocal with a variety of those sing-
ing-birds common to Europe; among which it would
be unpardonable to omit the blackbird, the thrush,
and the nightingale, which delight the ear with their
evening song from the thickets of roses that embellish
every garden.
The mineral resources of Persia consist of iron, lead,
copper, mercury, arsenic, sulphur, asbestos, mica, coal
and manganese. Gold dust is also found in the Jugarai
River, and near Rushire in the Naptha Springs. The
pearl fisheries in the Persian Gulf and the turquoise
mines in Korassan are the richest in the world.
Physical Geography 17
The animals are oxen, buffaloes, camels, mules,
horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, lions, tigers, leopards,
wolves, panthers, jackals, boars, foxes, cats and pariah
dogs. The buffalo is used to draw loads, to plow and
to give milk twice a day. Sheep are milked and cheese
is made from the milk. There is no hog in Persia.
Nothing is more abominable to the Mohammedans
than a hog. They hate a hog as they do the evil one.
There is no people, perhaps, who is better entitled
to the appellation of "a nation of horsemen" than the
Persians; and in no country, not even in England,
where so much science and expense are lavished upon
the stable, is greater attention paid to the management
of their horses. There are various breeds in Persia;
but the most esteemed are those of the Turkoman
tribes, when duly mingled with Arab blood.
The price of the finer horses in Persia varies, of
course, according to size or beauty, but principally
according to breed. It may be held to range from
$250 to $1,500 and even $2,000; though none of high
blood can be procured for less than $500. The common
horses of the country, among which some prove excel-
lent, may be purchased at from $75 to $200.
The Persians do not deform their horses by cutting
their tails; but, by knotting them up in a peculiar
manner, they shorten them, so that they do not incom-
mode their riders. The harness is simple and gener-
ally plain; the saddle, which by a European would be
held as neither comfortable nor convenient, rises high
above the horse's back, and is generally adorned with
a demi-peak mounted in gold or silver; the stirrup-
iron on which the foot rests is sharp, and answers the
purpose of a spur; and the bridle is but a single rein
18 Persia, the Land of the Magi
attached to a powerful bit. Ornaments are often sus-
pended under the throat and above the forehead;
while silver chains are sometimes twisted around the
animal's neck. The led horses, or yedeks, which
always form a principal part of a great man's retinue,
have their saddles covered with very gay cloths, one
of which is generally spread on the ground to sit upon.
The climate is made up of various varieties. In the
north, about the Caspian Sea, it is quite cold, and in
the south, around the Persian Gulf, it is very hot.
"My father's kingdom," says the younger Cyrus to
Xenophon, "is so large that people perish with cold
at one extremity while they are suffocated with heat
at the other," — a description the truth of which can
be well appreciated by those who, having gasped for a
season on the burning sands of the Dushtistan, have
in one short month been pinched by the numbing cold
of the northern provinces. The extremes of heat and
cold are most sensibly felt on the central plateau,
where the winter is as rigorous as the summer is hot.
The dryness of the atmosphere, however, makes the
air generally pure and the sky cloudless. The shores
of the Persian Gulf are scorched up in summer by a
burning heat, and become so unhealthy that all the
inhabitants who have the means abandon them, and
retire to the adjacent mountains. On the south side
of the northern mountain ranges snow falls early in
November. In such situations, as at Teheran, ice is
seen up to the middle of March; cold winds from the
north prevail in April, and even during summer great
and sudden changes of temperature are not uncommon.
On the north side of the mountains, in the plains of
Ghilan and Mazanderan, the climate is like that of a
Physical Geography 19
tropical region, in which a dry and a rainy season
regularly alternate, and vegetation has a luxuriance not
often met with in much lower latitudes. At the cen-
ter plateau it is very good, and is pronounced to be
remarkable above that of all other countries for its
purity and dryness. It comes with healthful regularity.
Rivers are very few and small, and not navigable.
The chief are the Krun, flowing to the Euphrates; the
Zenda-rud (river of life), flowing through Ispahan and
afterwards lost in the desert. Great deserts abound
everywhere; some are encrusted with salt, the worst
being 500 miles long and 200 miles wide. Throughout
the central plateau the total absence of running water
is apparent. From the southern slopes of the moun-
tain ranges, which rise from its northern edge, much
water, partly the product of perpetual snow, neces-
sarily descends in numerous streams, which soon reach
the borders of parched and sandy deserts, and are
immediately absorbed. The northern slopes are so
near the basin of the Caspian, to which they all belong,
that the water which they supply, though often in
such excess as to inundate the plains below, has too
short a course to allow it to accumulate into rivers.
The principal exception is furnished by the Saeid-
Rood or White River, which, rising in the mountains
of Koordistan, has found, or worn for itself, a channel,
generally several hundred and sometimes 1,000 feet
below the general level of the table-land in which the
first part of its course is performed, then bursts its
way across the mountains of Masula, into a long valley
interposed between two of its ranges, and finally
works its way to the Caspian, across the Elburz, at
the celebrated Rudbar pass, after a course of about
20 Persia, the Land of the Magi
350 miles. Most of the fresh-water lakes are situated
in the province of Mazanderan. The salt lakes are
few in number, but remarkable for their magnitude;
the largest, Lake Urmia (Shahu), in the western part
of the province of Azirbijan, is 89 miles long and 25
miles wide, and its water is much saltier than that of
the ocean. This lake, though generally shallow, is
safely navigated by vessels of considerable size.
Persia was first settled by Elm, son of Shem, who
was the son of Noah. It is supposed that Cherdor-
loomer, who lived in the time of Abraham, was one of
the early kings. Here we have the tomb of Daniel
the Prophet, and other prominent men of ancient
times. Here also are the sepulchers of Mordecai and
Queen Esther.
Five hundred years before Christ the fire-worship-
ers established their religion. The ashes of their
sacred fires, burning for centuries, have left many
hills.
Six hundred and fifty years after Christ the Moham-
medan and Arabic tribe came and abolished the fire-
worship. They teach that there is but one God, creator
of heaven and earth, and Mohammed is His prophet.
Every soul not believing will be put to the sword.
When the Mohammedans had thus established their
religion they advanced into China. Thus, by the
sword and general bloodshed the teaching of Moham-
med was spread abroad.
In the reign of Cyrus the Great the inhabitants of
Persia numbered about eighty millions. At present
they are estimated at about fifteen millions, made up
of the following nationalities and sects: Zoroastrians,
15,000; Jews, 15,000; Nestorians, 25,000; Armenians,
Government 2 1
50,000. The remainder are all Mohammedans, made
up of Kurds, Arabs, and Persians.
The chief cities of Persia are Teheran, the capital;
Tabreetz, Mishid, Ispahan, Yezd, Kermanshah, Hama-
don, Urmia, Burfrush, and Kashan. Also in Persia
there are many interesting ruins of ancient populous
and celebrated cities — for example, Persepolis, Shah-
pur, Istakhar, Shushan, Homadan, etc. The monu-
ments and inscriptions found at some of these places
form a highly interesting study.
The government of Persia is a pure despotism, the
King possessing absolute authority over the lives and
property of the people. He appoints governors to
each of the States. The standing army consists of
200,000 men, of which only 50,000 are well disciplined
infantry, 10,000 artillery, 10,000 irregular cavalry and
a few thousand irregular infantry and guards. The
officers in the army are, for the most part, ignorant
and inefficient, while the soldiers are intelligent, sober,
obedient and capable of enduring great fatigue.
The trade of Persia is nearly all with Europe. There
are no railroads nor wagon roads. The means of
travel is by foot or horseback, on narrow footpaths.
Instead of express, they have burdens carried on the
backs of camels, horses, mules, donkeys or oxen. Cara-
vans of camels perform the greater part of their jour-
neys by night. Each caravan is composed of from
one hundred to two hundred camels. These are under
only a few leaders, for camels are very gentle. Dur-
ing nights while at rest the camels are let loose.
Thieves do not steal them and wild beasts do not eat
them. Thieves sometimes cut the straps that fasten
22 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the loads to the camels and roll the burdens down
steep chasms, when they afterwards secure the plun-
der. The marching caravan is like the marching of
an army, so much tinkling of bells. Thieves come and
attack a camel, the bells cease tinkling and the owner
knows that something is the matter. These caravans
exchange the products of Persia for muslin, leather
skins, nankeen, china, glass, hardware, dye stuffs and
spices. The great part of the commerce of Persia
centers at Tabreez, to which are conveyed all the
product of East Persia, Turkistan, Cabul, Beloochis-
tan and India. European goods are brought to Tabreez
by Constantinople and Trebizond.
Mr. W. Morgan Shuster, the American ex- Treasurer-General of Persia says:
The trade of the entire northern half of Persia is wholly in the hands of Russian
merchants. This predominance is strengthened by the medieval policy fol-
lowed by Russia in refusing transit in bond to goods coming from Europe for
consumption in Persia.
This privilege is accorded by nearly every other civilized country in the
world, in the case of goods in transit through its territories, and is recognized
by modern governments as both fair and necessary. The absence of such an
arrangement in Russia renders it necessary for goods from Europe to be con-
veyed over long and often impassable or dangerous caravan routes from the
ports on the Persian Gulf. The only alternative is for the British or other
foreign exporter to suffer the handicap of paying the Russian customs duties
and the delays and annoyances of the Russian customs officials for the mere
privilege of transporting the goods through Russia in order to reach Northern
Persia.
It is curious, however, that in carrying out even a high-handed and arbitrary
policy of this kind Russia could not avoid making a blunder at some point.
A year or so ago the government suddenly awoke to the fact that it was one of
the signatories to the International Postal Convention, under which it is
agreed that parcels sent by post should pass through Russian territory unopened
and free of customs duties. Due to this oversight on the part of the Rus-
sian government the amount of foreign merchandise from European countries
which is to-day passing into Persia by means of the parcels post, via Russia,
is increasing rapidly, to the intense disgust and chagrin of the Russian officials
and merchants.
Hussian Ahmed Mirz*,
The present Shah of Persia, who succeeded to the Crown after
his father's dethronement under the title
of Sultan Ahmed Mirza.
Government 23
Persia has suffered in many ways from the foreigner during the past thirty
years. Her hands have been tied by treaties and stipulations, by loan con-
tracts, concessions and agreements, all signed by vicious and selfish rulers
or ministers, that they might indulge in debauchee abroad at the expense of
their people and their national safety. Russia has been a constant panderer
to the vices of the Shahs, plying the drunkard with rum that he might sign
away his birthright. Concession after concession has been exacted by foreign
interests until the resources of the whole country are so tied up that the gov-
ernment itself cannot develop them to any extent.
Starting with the famous tobacco monopoly of 1891, railroad grants, oil
and mining concessions, and loans have followed in swift succession. If Persia
seeks to develop herself, some decree of a former Shah is produced to show
why she cannot do so. Claims to an unknown number of millions are filed
against her. Russian subjects claim everything, and their government gives to
their demands its official support and backing. One of Russia's principal
objections to the proposed loan of £4,000,000 was that I would not agree to
the Banque d' Escompte at Teheran (a branch of the Russian State Bank)
exercising a supervisory control of the expenditures, a thing which would have
been tantamount to telling Russia to conduct the Persian government.
When I assumed charge of the Persian Treasury, in addition to the banking
overdraft of 440,000 tumans, the principal central and provincial adminis-
trations were unpaid for several months; the diplomatic representatives of
Persia abroad had received no pay for years, and I was constantly in receipt
of truly pathetic appeals from officials who were marooned in Europe, unable
to get back to Persia because of their debts incurred for living expenses, and
protected from arrest only by diplomatic immunity.
The credit of Persia abroad would have required many years to restore, but
I was careful throughout the entire time that I was in charge of her finances
not to put my name to any order or check unless I had funds to meet it on
presentation. No check of the American treasurer-general was ever refused
payment, and the Persians, on learning this, actually kept treasury checks
instead of bank-notes, whereas any former order or obligation of the Persian
government had been cashed or passed off, even at a discount, without an
instant's delay. In the treasury under our charge was the only set of central
books balanced exactly with the different banks with which the treasury trans-
acted business, and a permanent record was kept of every receipt or dis-
bursement. Persia never had this before— nor desired it.
Soon after taking charge I organized a Persian secret service, which did
yeoman service in reporting frauds and occasional attempts at dishonesty by
treasury employees. This service likewise kept me informed of the secret
plans of the different officials of the government. (The government had not
a penny in cash at the time I took charge. There was an unknown sum due
on outstanding checks, drafts, treasury promises to pay, etc., all issued by
previous ministers of finance. Despite the civil war which commenced in
July, 1911, and required for extraordinary military expenditures alone more
24 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
than 1,500,000 tumans, and despite the diminution in the revenues caused
by the disorders throughout the empire, the banking overdraft of 440,000
tumans was paid, the necessary funds to conduct the government were fur-
nished, payments were promptly met. The only extraordinary receipt during
this time was the net proceeds of the Imperial Bank Loan, which, after liqui-
dating the converted debt and other advances made on its credit prior to my
arrival, amounted to about 2,000,000 tumans. On my relinquishing charge
of the treasury on January 7, 1912, there was standing to the credit of the
government in money and grain a balance of over 600,000 tumans, including
the excess customs revenues up to January 13, 1912.)
The coinage system in Persia is simple. There are no gold coins in circu-
lation. The standard coin is the kran, worth about $0.09, or less, according
to the rate of exchange. Ten krans make a tuman, but there are no tumans in
circulation, the largest coin being the two-kran piece.
The Imperial Bank of Persia (a British corporation) issues, under its charter,
bank-notes redeemable in krans.
Until a comparatively recent date some of the provincial governments in
Persia struck off very crude kran pieces which were little more than flattened
balls of silver and alloy. The Imperial Mint at Teheran has antiquated and
uneconomical machinery. It coined at the rate of about 700,000 tumans a
month when running at full capacity.
The question of railroad development in Persia is a complicated one. Russia
and England desire roads which would tend to carry out their strategical
purposes, or benefit some particular class of trade, irrespective of the economic
development of Persia as a whole. It is generally believed by impartial persons
that the first main line which should be built should run approximately from
Julfa (Russia) through Tabriz, Zindjan, Kasvin, Hamadan, Khoramabad, to
Mohammerah on the Persian Gulf. This would be a north to south trunk
line, would tap many of the richest sections of the empire and would greatly
hasten Persia's economic development. It would have branches, such as
from Kasvin to Teheran. It was my intention to have the Persian govern-
ment declare its intention of building this line, in sections, and authorize loans
for its construction and operation, by a syndicate whose capital should be
purely private. There is little question but that such a line w6uld be profit-
able, if properly managed. The other lines of which mention has been made
will be built some day, but they are not so important at present.
(According to the customs statistics available, the total value of Persian
imports and exports for 1900-1910 was 81,395,470 tumans, upon which the
import and export duties collected were 3,634,032 tumans, or slightly less than
4yZ per cent. Russia is credited with imports and exports amounting to
48,910,404 — more than half the total. The rates of duty on Russian mer-
chandise are exceptionally low. The principal articles of importation from
that country into Persia are sugar, on which the rate of duty is about three
per cent, and refined petroleum, on which the rate is about one-half of one per
cent.)
History 25
HISTORY.
According to the description of Persian geographers,
when their country was in its greatest glory, its terri-
tory comprehended four seas — the Caspian Sea, the
Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf — and
six great rivers — the Euphrates, Tigris, Araxes, Phasis,
Oxus, and Indus. Passing over a series of fabulous
dynasties, we arrive at that of the Achemenides, or
Kaianians, which commenced about 720 B. C, and
furnishes the first records which can be considered
authentic. Shortly after this period, Persia appears
to have been merely a province of the Assyrian empire,
on the disruption of which it fell under the power of
the Medes, B. C. 709. Dejoce, the founder of the
Median monarchy, was followed at some distance by
Cyaxares, whose successor was Astyages. With his
dethronement, B. C. 560, the Median dynasty ter-
minated, and the true founder of the Persian monarchy,
one of the most distinguished characters of ancient
times, appears upon the stage. Cyrus the Great hav-
ing established his ascendency over the Medes, carried
his victorious arms into the West, overthrew Croesus,
King of Lydia, and fulfilling a series of remarkable
Scripture prophecies by the conquest of Babylon and
its dependencies, extended his empire to the shores
of the Mediterranean. An expedition against the
Scythians proved fatal to him, B. C. 529, and he was
succeeded by his son Cambyses, the most important
event of whose reign was his conquest of Egypt. On
his death, an impostor, pretending to be his brother
Smerdis, mounted the throne; but shortly after, on
the discovery of the fraud, was slain by the nobles,
26 Persia, the Land of the Magi
who then gave the crown to one of their own number
called Darius Hystaspes; who pushed his conquests
into the East as far as the Indus. In the West, the
lands of Asia proved too narrow for his ambition, and
he passed over into Europe. Here, after making
various conquests, he encountered the Greeks, by
whom he was defeated on the field of Marathon. His
successor, Xerses, having marched toward Greece at
the head of the most gigantic armament which the
world had yet beheld, first at Salamis and then at
Platsea, met with even greater disasters than those
which had befallen his predecessors, and with diffi-
culty saved his life by almost solitary flight across the
Hellespont. Greece now assumed the offensive, and
after many years of struggle, almost always disastrous
to Persia, a new conqueror appeared in Alexander the
Great, and completed her downfall. The Mace-
donian empire was soon broken up by the death of
its founder, and Persia, becoming only one of its frag-
ments, was long passed from hand to hand among
contending competitors. About B. C. 174 it fell into
the hands of the Parthians, and was ruled by Mithri-
dates I, under whom the Parthian power extended
from the Indus to the Euphrates. Rome was now in
her full career of conquest, and Parthia was well fitted
both to tempt her ambition and try her prowess.
The first direct intercourse between them took place
B. C. 93, when Mithridates II sent an embassy to
Sylla. In less than forty years after, war between them
had commenced, and though by no means always to
the advantage of the mistress of the world, the greater
part of Persia was ultimately held as a fief of the
Roman empire. Struggles for independence, however,
History 27
continued to be almost incessantly made in the times
both of the Greek and Roman emperors, and Persia
produced several native princes whose fame as war-
riors or improvers of their country is still held in lively
remembrance. They belong to what is called the
Sassanian dynasty, which commenced as early as
A. D. 226, and continued, though under circumstances
of greater or less depression, till 531, when it succeeded
in surmounting all obstacles, and attained its highest
prosperity under the celebrated Khosru-Nusherwan,
who swayed the sceptre over realms scarcely less exten-
sive than those which Persia possessed in the time
of Xerxes. At a later period (A. D. 590-628), another
Khosru, distinguished by the name of Khosru-Perwiz,
after commencing his reign by a series of brilliant and
extensive conquests, sustained a number of most dis-
astrous reverses, and at last perished by the hand of
his own son. The parricide was not long permitted to
benefit by his crime; death overtook him six months
after; and during the confusion which ensued a new
party, destined to change the face of Persia and greater
part of the East, appeared. The Arabs had now com-
menced their career of Mohammedan conquest, and by
the decisive battles of Cadesia, A. D. 636, and Neha-
vend, A. D. 641, extinguished the Sassanian dynasty,
and substituted that of the Caliphs; during whose
ascendency, for the two subsequent centuries, the his-
tory of Persia becoming blended with that of Arabia
and the other realms subject to these potentates, ceases
to be national. This long period, however, did not
pass away without vast changes, among which the
most astonishing is the extirpation of the ancient relig-
ion, and the general adoption of Mohammedanism.
28 Persia, the Land of the Magi
About the middle of the ninth century the spirit of
independence revived, and a new dynasty arose in the
person of Yakub Ibn Lais, who threw off allegiance to
the Caliph, and reigned sovereign at Shiraz over terri-
tories nearly identical with modern Persia. It is
impossible here to follow in detail the numerous changes
which have subsequently taken place. In the begin-
ning of the eleventh century the Seljookian Turks
made their descent from Central Asia, and succeeded
in placing their Sultan, Togral-Beg, on the Persian
throne. His successors retained possession till the last
of the line was slain in 1194 by the Shah of Kharism,
who had scarcely established a Kharismian dynasty
when the famous Genghis Khan made his appearance
at the head of 700,000 Moguls, and crushing all opposi-
tion, ruled Persia with a rod of iron. The Mogul
ascendency was maintained after his death in 1258,
first by his immediate descendants, and afterwards by
the hereditary nobles, who, throwing off allegiance to a
common head, divided the country into a number of
separate and hostile independencies. This state of
matters was suddenly terminated in 1381, by the
invasion of Tamerlane and his Tartars, who spread
devastation wherever they appeared. All Persia was
completely at his feet, when he was carried off by death
in 1404. The anarchy of petty independencies again
returned, but was finally suppressed in 1502 by Ismail
Shah, who, partly by valor and partly by the reputed
sanctity of his race as descended from Mohammed,
worked his way to the Persian throne, and founded
the Sefi, or Soofee dynasty, which reached its greatest
prosperity during the reign of Abbas the Great (A. D.
1586-1627). This prosperity faded away during the
MrZAFFR-ED-DlN,
The former Shah of Persia.
History 29
feeble reigns which succeeded, and in 1723 a success-
ful revolt of the Afghans, followed by a series of vic-
tories, enabled them to place the Persian crown on
the head of their chief Meer-Mahomed. The Afghan
ascendency soon yielded to the prowess of the cele-
brated general, Nadir-Kooli, who, after fighting pro-
fessedly in defense of the Soofeean dynasty, declared
it at an end, and formally assuming the sovereignty
which he had long virtually possessed, began to reign
in 1736, under the title of Nadir-Shah. His extraor-
dinary talents raised Persia to a remarkable degree of
power and influence. One of his most remarkable
exploits was the invasion of India in 1739, when he
took Delhi and obtained booty which has been valued
at above $150,000,000. His greater qualities were
counterbalanced by cruelty and avarice, and he was
assassinated in 1747. A period of confusion succeeded,
and was not terminated till 1795, when Aga-Mahomed-
Khan-Kajar, of Turcoman origin, ascended the throne,
and became the founder of the Kajar dynasty. The
very common fate of Persian sovereigns awaited him,
and in 1797, before he had reigned two years, he was
murdered by his attendants. His nephew, Rabak-
Khan, succeeded him under the name of Feth-Ali-
Shah. The most remarkable events of his reign were
two disastrous wars with Russia, the one ending in
1813, with the loss of extensive territories along the
Caspian; and the other in 1828, with the loss of Erivan
and all the country north of the Araxes.
In appearance Fattaly Shah was a man of fine phy-
sique and very proud of his broad shoulders and his
long black beard reaching to his waist. To him
Teheran is indebted for many of her fine buildings
30 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and many bas-reliefs of him sculptured on rocks all
around the city. Fattaly Shah is one of the most
noted Kings of Persia, and he is the first one that was
called the King of Kings. Fattaly had several sons,
one of whom, Abbas Mirza, was chosen as Crown
Prince. This Prince died in early manhood. He left
a son, Mohammed by name, who afterwards became
king. After Mohammed the Nasreddin Shah ascended
the throne in the year 1848, at the age of eighteen.
Nasreddin was a good king. He did more for Persia
than any ruler during the past 800 years. He visited
the European courts at three different times and he
holds an honorable place among the rulers of the
world. The two most important improvements intro-
duced by him into his country were the construction
of the telegraph lines in the year 1869 and the estab-
lishment of a postal service in 1877. The last impor-
tant service he rendered his country was the founding
of a university called Darinal-funum, or place of sci-
ence, at the capital city, Teheran. On the first of
May, 1896, the Shah Nasreddin, having just gone
through with the forms of religious worship in a
Mohammedan shrine, was coming out of the door
when he was shot by the hand of an assassin and died
from the bullet in five hours. His murderer was one
of his subjects, Mirza Riza of Kerman, who belonged
to the new peculiar sect of Babists that is found in
Persia and that differs from the Mohammedan religion.
The Shah Nasreddin was succeeded by his second
son, Muzaffer-ed-din, which, translated, means the
Victorious of the Faith. When, in 1896, after the
assassination of his father, he ascended the celebrated
"Peacock Throne" and put on his head the richest
Mohammed Ali,
The successor of Muzaffr-ed-din, and father of
the present Shah, who was deposed by his
subjects in a recent revolution.
History 3 1
diadem in the world, he was forty-three years of age.
Prior to his ascension he was the titular Governor of
Azerbaijan. Their heir apparent, or vali-ahd, always
becomes Governor of this province, which is the most
important in Persia, as Tabriz, its capital, is, next to
Teheran, the most important town.
Although a good Mohammedan, he at once made it
apparent that the mullahs or priests would no more be
allowed to influence his administration than they had
that of his father, who fell a victim to the fanaticism
of one of them. His mind was set upon developing
his native country along the lines of Western progress.
He was keenly alive to the advantages of the telegraph
wire as a means of keeping himself fully informed at
all times of the state of affairs in the remotest parts
of his dominions, and the telegraph brought about a
consolidation of the provinces unknown at any previous
period of Persian history.
Pie was a profound student of philosophy, and,
besides being versed in the rich lore and wisdom of
Persia, was familiar with the teaching of Aristotle and
Plato, and with the works of Bacon, Kant and Bain.
He was also a liberal patron of the arts. He spoke
Arabic, Turkish and French with great fluency, and
could also converse in English.
He had his daughters as well as his sons taught
French by a French lieutenant of artillery. This
caused a great scandal at the time in Tabriz, but he
disregarded the general indignation, and when his
daughters grew older engaged a Frenchwoman, Mme.
Limosin, as their governess.
In addition to his other accomplishments, Muzaffer-
ed-din was a crack shot and a splendid horseman.
32 Persia, the Land of the Magi
As a mighty hunter he was famous far beyond the
borders of his dominions.
Not a little of his father's enlightenment was acquired
from three visits to Europe, he having been the first
Persian ruler to visit the Occident. Muzaffer-ed-
din in turn also visited the chief capitals of Europe,
and in August, 1900, while a guest of the French
nation in Paris, an attempt was made to assassinate
him. He was driving in the Avenue du Bois de Bou-
logne with Amin Sultan, his Grand Vizier; Doctor
Adcock, his physician, and General Parent, when a
man sprang on the steps of the carriage and tried to
shoot him, but was prevented by the Grand Vizier,
who grasped the man's wrist with such a powerful grip
that the would-be murderer dropped the revolver.
The Shah's reign was clouded by a malady which
would not yield to medical treatment. During his
visit to England he was suffering such pain that, in
spite of the extravagant plans which had been made
for his entertainment, he was seen to smile but once
during his stay.
The Shah's household made him a unique figure in
the twentieth century. He was said to have 800
wives. Every year 100 of the most beautiful maidens
in the country were brought before the Shah. He
selected the twenty-five who were the most beautiful
to him.
Muzaffer-ed-din's wealth was reputed to be $200,-
000,000. His jewels are said to be worth $20,000,000.
The crown itself, surmounted by a great flawless ruby
as large as a hen's egg, is valued at several millions.
Two gem-studded swords with their scabbards were
said to have cost $1,000,000 each.
History 33
He was, on January 19, 1907, succeeded by his
second son, Mohammed- AH- Mirza, born on June 21,
1872, who, in accordance with custom, was acting as
Governor of Azerbaijan, and who at no time had much
trouble with the national assembly or the ephemeral
legislatures of 1907 and 1908. The Persian Parlia-
ment came to an abrupt end under bombardment by
the guns of the Shah, and the succeeding massacres
and executions were carried on by the Cossacks under
the Russian commander Colonel Liakoff . This trouble
caused a national revolution. From the west came
Satter Khan, chief of the revolutionists of Tabriz, from
the south Sardar Assad, chief of the Bakhtiari of Ispa-
han, who met at the gate of Teheran and unitedly
stormed the city. The struggle at last resulted in the
triumph of the nationalists. In spite of the cannon
and rifles of Shah Ali's Russian champions, the forces
of the reformers burst their way into Teheran on
July 16, 1909, deposed the Shah, and seated upon the
peacock throne his son, Ahmed Mirza, a child of twelve.
When it is said that the Shah Ali was deposed it is
really meant that he deposed himself, for when the
Persian Cossacks under General Liakoff were routed
by the nationalists the Persian sovereign rushed to the
Russian Embassy for asylum, which was conceded
him only on condition that under the circumstances
he considered himself deposed. Shah Ahmed Mirza
is sovereign only in name, but the real ruler is Nasereil-
mulk, the head of Kadjar Dynasty, the regents are
Russia and England. The only thing which these
two powers guarantee to Persia is the maintenance of
her independence and her integrity. In other words,
Persia is like Egypt, a protectorate.
34 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Mr. William Morgan Shuster, the American ex-
Treasurer-General of Persia, tells us that the above
treaty was abrogated by Russia and England, which
led to a Russian intervention and his expulsion from
that country. We are not in position to say who was
right, but the Christian people living in Persia are
greatly indebted to Mr. Shuster, which his service in
behalf of Persian people made Russians more anxious
to intervene and give protection to the Christians and
other European commerce and industries.
The British "Blue Book" of 1912 makes the following statement in reference
- to Mr. Shuster, England and Russia:
"The first trouble of Morgan Shuster arose, curiously enough, with the
English element of the Condeminium. But it was quickly smoothed away by
Sir George Barclay, the British Minister Plenipotentiary of Teheran, who is
married to an American wife, Beatrice Mary Jay Chapman, daughter of
Henry G. Chapman, of New York. In a couple of days everything was in
working order again. Encouraged by his success, and assuming therefrom an
assurance that he could always look for support from the English Legation,
Morgan Shuster next attacked the Russian agent, who was a very cleverman,
and who also had spent much of his life in England, having been a particular
friend and 'bridge' partner of King Edward. His name was M. Posciolski.
Here, however, he found himself in a whole peck of trouble. Nothing could
move the Russian minister from the attitude which he had taken up, and not
even Sir George Barclay's representation that Posciolski had gone even beyond
the point committed to him by the St. Petersburg government, would cause
him to yield a single hair's breadth. Finally an ultimatum was presented by
Russia to Persia and it was only when the Russian army was actually marching
into Teheran that the Persian government climbed down from the high position
they had assumed and dismissed Morgan Shuster from the post of Treasurer-
General at Teheran, along with all the members of his bureau. Some people over
here anticipated that the 'Blue Book' — that is the collection of the diplomat —
in any official reports about Persia to Parliament would seek to smooth over
the Morgan Shuster episode, would laud him for his work and pay tribute to
him for the lasting results which it was likely to have in Persia. This is, how-
ever, very far from being the case. The Morgan Shuster affair is condemned
just as severely by Sir Edward Grey as by the German Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Baron Kierlen-Waechter, and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at
St. Petersburg; while the fear is expressed in England that Shuster's work
will eventually be found to have proved far more hurtful than beneficial.
History 35
True, no exception is taken to his integrity. But it is insisted that for a man,
even of the highest integrity, to attempt to assume the internal administration
of an Oriental country, of the national peculiarities of which he is ignorant,
was the most foolhardy and reckless job ever undertaken, even by an American,
whose first principle of faith is a blind belief in his ability to land somewhere
on both feet.
Among the magniloquent titles that as ruler of Per-
sia he assumes are Shah-in-Shah, meaning King of
Kings, which is an inheritance from an antiquity older
then the Old Testament; Zil Allah, Shadow of God;
the Kiblah Alam, Center of the World; the Exalted
One Exalted as the Planet Saturn; the Well of Knowl-
edge, the King Whose Standard is the Sun, and Whose
Splendor is That of the Firmament.
Character of the Regent, of the Different Government
Officials and of the Medji.is. Character and
Capacity of the Persian People.
Mr. W. Morgan Shuster says:
Nasir-ul-Mulk was, in my opinion, a most unfortunate choice for Regent.
The situation of the Persian people demanded a strong, just hand at the helm,
and, however great his intelligence, the Regent was not strong, and, on some
subjects, he was not just. A profound egotist, he could look at no question
except in its bearing upon him and his dignity. His familiar accusation against
the Medjlis and the Ministers was that they were endeavoring to drag him
into politics, and the Regent should be sacrosanct and respected by every one,
as is the King of England. The conclusion is inevitable that he was moie
concerned with his own welfare and peace of mind than with the success of
the difficult and complicated task which he had undertaken.
The Cabinet ministers and other high executive officials with whom I came
in contact during my stay in Persia, with few exceptions, did not impress me
favorably. Many of them were men of good education and great intelligence,
but they invariably lacked the ability to regard their power and office purely
as a means of serving their country. I am aware that, tested by this standard,
many public officials in other countries would leave something to be desired,
but the defects of selfishness, of purely personal ambition, of seeking pecuniary
profit at the expense of the Government, were more than ususally prevalent
among the so-called governing classes of Persia. These men were invariably
chosen from the aristocracy — and a very degenerate aristocracy — and they
were either unwilling or unable to oppose seriously corruption in the Govern-
ment where it might even faintly affect themselves or their friends.
36 Persia, the Land of the Magi
The deputies of the Persian Medjlis were a very different type of men.
Among them were some few of the grandee element, of the wealthy land owners
and nobles. But as a rule they were nearer to the people; many had studied
law or medicine; some had been clerks and inferior public officials. A number
of the deputies were priests or mullahs, and, whatever their walk in life, they
seemed to feel that the fact of their being chosen by a popular vote, instead of
being merely appointed through some form of influence, made them the guar-
dians of the rights of their countrymen. Most of these men sincerely believed
that they embodied the dignity and ideals of the Persian people in their struggle
to establish a representative form of government.
As to the Persian people themselves, it is difficult to generalize. The great
mass of the population is composed of peasants and tribesmen, all densely
ignorant. On the other hand, many have been educated abroad, or have
traveled after completing their education at home. The Persians are as a rule
kind and hospitable. They have an undue respect for foreigners. French,
and some English, is spoken among the wealthier classes. They, or at least
certain elements among them which had the support of the masses, proved
their capacity to assimilate western civilization and ideas. They changed
despotism into democracy in the face of untold obstacles. Opportunities
were equalized to such a degree that any man of ability could occupy the highest
official posts. As a race they showed during the past five years an unparalleled
eagerness for education. Hundreds of schools were established during the
constitutional regime. A remarkable free press sprang up over night, and
fearless writers came forward to denounce injustice and tyranny whether
from within their country or without. The Persians were anxious to adopt
wholesale the political, ethical and business codes of the most modern and
progressive nations. They burned with the same spirit of Asiatic unrest
which pervades India, which produced the "Young Turk" movement, and
which has more recently manifested itself in the establishment of the Chinese
Republic. The East has awakened. Persia, unfortunately, awoke too late.
Her futile struggles towards the light were quickly suppressed by a power
whose own strength lies only in the path of darkness,
The writer has no illusions about altruism in international affairs. There is,
of course, no excuse for self-deception. But one of the lessons to be learned
from the overthrow of Persia is that the civilized world has far to travel before
it may rise up and call itself blessed. The Persian people, fighting for a chance
to live and govern themselves instead of remaining the serfs of wholly heart-
less and corrupt rulers, deserved better of fate than to be forced, as now, either
to sink back into an even worse serfdom or to be hunted down and murdered
as "revolutionary dregs." British and Russian statesmen may be proud
of their work in Persia; it is doubtful whether any one else is.
Kipling has intimated that you cannot hustle the East. This includes a
warning and a reflection. Western men and Western ideals can hustle the
East, provided the Orientals realize that they are being carried along lines
reasonably beneficial to themselves. As a matter of fact, the moral appeal
bd
The Shah and His Court 37
and the appeal of race-pride and patriotism, are as strong in the East as in
the West, though it does not lie so near the surface; and naturally the Oriental
displays no great desire to be hustled when it is along lines beneficial only to
the Westener.
Persia's sole chance for self-redemption lay with the reform of her broken
finances. It might have been possible in the past to create a strong central
government, without sound financial operations — indeed, several of the old
Shahs succeeded in maintaining a strong control throughout the Empire —
but in recent years the time had gone by when Persia could be put in order
except through an efficient handling of her taxation and other financial prob-
lems. The Persians themselves realize this, and, with the exception of the
corrupt grandees and dishonest public servants, all desired that we should
succeed. Russia became aware of this feeling, and unwittingly paid us the
compliment of fearing that we would succeed in our task. That she never
intended to allow; the rest of the controversy was detail.
THE SHAH AND HIS COURT.
The Shah's Court. — In no court is there more rigid
attention paid to ceremony. The looks, words and
even the movements of the body are all regulated by
the strictest forms. When the King is seated in pub-
lic his sons, ministers and courtiers stand erect, with
their hands crossed and in the exact place belonging
to their rank. They watch his looks and a glance
is a command. If he speaks to them, you hear a voice
reply and see the lips move, but not a motion or ges-
ture betrays that there is animation in the person thus
addressed. He often speaks of himself in the third
person, as "The King is pleased. The King com-
mands." His ministers address him with high-sound-
ing titles, giving expression to the popular sentiments
with regard to him. For instance he is called, "The
object of the world's regard," "Kiblah I Alam," or
"The Point of the Universe," "King of Kings," and
"the Lord of the Universe." They are as particular
in forms of speech as in other ceremonies, and supe-
38 Persia, the Land of the Magi
riority and inferiority of rank in all the graduations
are implied by the terms used in the commonest con-
versation. Nothing can exceed the splendor of the
Persian court on extraordinary occasions. It pre-
sents a scene of the greatest magnificence regulated by
the most exact order. To no part of the government
is so much attention paid as to the strict maintenance
of these forms and ceremonies which are deemed essen-
tial to the power and glory of the monarch; and the
highest officers to whom this duty is allotted, are
armed with the fullest authority and are always
attended by a number of inferiors who carry their
commands into the most prompt execution.
When a foreign ambassador arrives, the court assumes
its most solemn aspect, and its resources are taxed to
dazzle the stranger as well by magnificence as the
exhibition of uncontrolled power. As he approaches
the royal residence a deep silence prevails, — the men
stand like statues, — the horses themselves, as if trained
to such scenes, scarcely move their heads. The envoy
is received in a small apartment by one of the prin-
cipal officers of government, who, after a delay more
or less protracted according to the honor intended to
be paid, leads him to the hall of audience, where the
sovereign, clothed in glittering apparel, sits on a throne
covered with jewels. A garden, divided into parterres
by walks, and adorned with flowers and fountains,
spreads its beauties before the ample windows. Twice
is the stranger called upon to bow before the King of
Kings ere he approach the presence, to which he is
marshalled by two officers of state with gold-enameled
wands. His name and country are announced, and he
is commanded to ascend. Arrived near the throne,
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The Shah and His Court 39
the deep and solemn voice of the sovereign utters the
gracious "Koosh i\meded!" after which, retiring to
his appointed place, he receives permission to be
seated.
The princes, nobles, ministers and public officers
of high rank imitate the King in many ways. All the
respect they pay to him they exact from their inferiors.
Each in his rank has a petty court of his own with
about the same forms and regulated in about the same
manner and by officers bearing the same official names
as those who attend the monarch. Every chief or
officer of high station has his harem, his secretaries,
his officers of ceremonies, his master of horse and some- ,
times even his poet and jester. In his house there is
as strict attention to exactness of conduct as in the
palaces of his sovereign. Sensible of the conditions
by which they are surrounded these persons appear as
desirous of obtaining money and as eager to spend it
lavishly for their own pleasure as do those of the same
rank in other countries. Women, horses, rich armor
and elegant clothing are the principal objects of their
desires. Their splendid apartments are furnished with
rich Persian carpets and are generally so situated as
to be perfumed by flower gardens and refreshed by
fountains. One of their chief pleasures is to sit in
these apartments and enjoy their tea, coffee and tobacco
and feast their friends. Their meals are always
abundant, even sumptuous. Nor does it mar their
enjoyment in the least to know that they have all
their wealth at the expense of their poor, oppressed
people, over whom they lord it. Many officers in the
kingdom accumulate large fortunes and then go to the
capital city and give so much as a bribe to this prince
40 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and so much to that minister in order to be introduced
to the King. Then he gives a large sum as a present
to the King, who in turn confers upon him a title and
in this way he becomes a great man and adds to the
power that he already has for the oppression of his
inferiors . Merchants and tradespeople who secure titles
for their children by means of the fortunes they have
made in trade are not by any means the only class
who get titles without any deeds of heroism. There
are many such in Persia whose sole title to greatness
is the power to oppress and over-tax.
When there are three or four men standing the one
on the other's shoulders, the one on top has an easy
time of it, the one next a comparatively easy time, and
so on down the column; but how about the one at
the bottom? So it is in Persia — the whole weight of
the government and all the splendor that those in the
highest ranks enjoy falls upon the poor lower classes,
who constitute the great majority of the people.
Yet, unlimited as the will of a Persian King may
appear, there are few who are more controlled by the
pressure of affairs. Not only has he to watch against
the diminution of his power by external aggression or
internal usurpation, but he must sedulously discharge
the more pacific duties, of which the most important
is the distribution of justice.
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW.
The civil and criminal law of all Mohammedan
nations is well known to be founded on the precepts
of the Koran and the traditions (or Sonna): that is,
Civil and Criminal Law 41
the oral commentaries and sayings of the immediate
successors of the Prophet. This, called the Sherrah
or written law, is the rule in all regular courts, where
persons of the ecclesiastical order preside. But in
Persia there is also the Urf or customary law, which
is administered by secular magistrates having the King
as their head. The respective powers and privileges
of these two branches of the judicature have always
been a matter of dispute ; and the point of precedence,
or rather of preponderance, has varied with the char-
acter and disposition of the sovereign; those of a
strongly religious bias being inclined to refer all cases
to the Sherrah, while others would vest the chief
authority in the secular tribunals.
The American ex-Treasurer-General of Persia says:
The tribunals of justice in Persia, where they existed
at all, were in an even more disorganized condition
than the rest of the government, and far from being
a check upon the criminally inclined, they formed an
important part of the empire-wide organization of
grafting public officials who lived and waxed fat upon
the products of the toil and suffering of millions of
peasants and ignorant tribesmen. Such little attempt
as was made by the Persian government to punish
dishonest officials took the form of purely police or
administrative measures. It the local political con-
ditions seemed to demand it, or there was enough
public sentiment in favor of it, the government directed
the arrest of a dishonest official, gave him a drumhead
hearing, and consigned him to jail, which was usually
the police headquarters. I speak more particularly
of the situation in Teheran. In the provinces the
local governors dispensed their brands of justice with
42 Persia, the Land of the Magi
heavy hands, but the net result of the arrest and trial
of a man charged with crime is, as a rule, that he or
his family and friends are forced to raise a purse suf-
ficiently large to satisfy the demands of the governor,
who is sheriff, prosecutor and judge rolled into one.
The Sheik al Islam is the supreme judge in the
Sherrah courts, although the great influence possessed
by the Mooshteheds or chief pontiffs, to whose superior
knowledge deference is always paid, might warrant
their being considered as higher still. In every town
there is such a sheik nominated by the King, with a
salary; and in the larger cities there is also a cauzee,
who has the further aid of a council of mollahs.
The Urf is administered by his majesty in person,
by his lieutenants, the rulers of provinces, governors
of cities, magistrates of towns, collectors of districts,
and all the officers who act under them. All these are
competent to hear causes and complaints, summon
evidence, give decisions, and inflict punishment, accord-
ing to their respective rank. And as the customary
law is more arbitrary than the written, these judgments
are more summary, and generally enforced with corre-
sponding vigor. There is, however, an appeal to the
superior functionaries; and it is this alone which con-
trols the venality of the lower judges. Still the power
of life and death rests with the King, who seldom dele-
gates it, except to princes of the blood-royal or to
governors of remote provinces.
The courts are held in public, and the monarch sits
a certain time each day, in his hall of audience, to
receive petitions and decide such cases as come before
him.
Execution 43
EXECUTION.
Execution is done in different ways. A prince from
the royal family has authority to behead men. Some-
times when a good friend of the King is appointed
governor, the King presents him with a knife. This
is a sign and carries with it authority to behead men.
Every prince-mayor or other governor who has been
given this authority keeps two executioners. The
uniform of their office is a suit of red clothes. These
two men walk before the mayor when he goes through
the streets. When a condemned man is to be executed
he is brought from the cell, hands chained behind and
with a chain about his neck. He is surrounded by a
group of soldiers with fixed bayonets. The guilty man
has been in a dungeon for several months perhaps.
His clothes are in rags, and, having had no bath since
first imprisoned, he is very dirty, his hair and beard
are long and shaggy. A few steps before him walks
the executioner, with blood-red garments and a knife
in his hand. Thus they proceed to the public square,
and before the assembled crowd the executioner steps
behind the kneeling victim and with a single stroke of
the keen knife cuts his throat, and another soul takes
its flight, having completed its part in the drama of
life.
A common mayor, who has not the authority to
behead, may kill criminals by fastening them to the
mouth of a cannon and sending a ball through the body.
Another method is to bury the condemned alive in a
cask filled with cement, leaving only the head exposed.
The cement soon hardens and the victim dies. Some-
times when their crime is not very bad the punishment
44 Persia, the Land of the Magi
is the severing of one hand from the body. If the man
thus punished should commit a second crime, the
remaining hand would be severed. If a Mohammedan
becomes drunk with wine and gets loud and abusive,
he is arrested and the executioner punctures the parti-
tion skin between the nostrils of the drunken man and
a cord of twine several feet long is passed through the
opening. Then the executioner starts down the street,
leading his victim. The man soon gets sober and is
very much ashamed. Shopkeepers give the execu-
tioner pennies as he passes along the street. Men who
quarrel and fight are punished by tying their feet to
a post, with their bare soles upward, and then whipping
the feet until the flesh is bruised and bleeding, and
frequently the nails are torn from the toes. The vic-
tims frequently become insensible under this punish-
ment. One good thing in the laws of punishment is
that no Christian or Jews are ever beheaded. The
Mohammedans consider the Christian and Jew as
being unclean, and think it would be a mean thing to
behead them.
Princes, lords and counts are never beheaded. The
most severe punishment for a prince is to pluck out
his eyes. The method of execution for counts and
lords is of two kinds. The King will send a bottle of
Sharbat to the condemned man, which is given him in
the form of a sweet drink, but it contains a deadly
poison. He is compelled to drink this and soon dies.
Another form is for the condemned man to be met
by a servant from the governor after having taken a
bath and the servant cuts blood-vessels in the arm
of the condemned until death results from loss of
blood.
Persian Gardens.
Plowing with Buffaloes.
Cultivated Fields.
The Palace 45
Thus it will be seen that the contrast in modes of
punishment in a Christian nation and a Mohammedan
nation is very great. The kind punishment inflicted
upon criminals in any country grows out of the prevail-
ing religious belief of that country. A religion that
has much cruelty in it will lead a people to torture its
criminals. But a nation whose religion is based upon
love will deal with its criminals effectively, but as
kindly as possible. The writer has visited prisons in
both Persia and America and finds that the contrast
between the prisons of the two countries is like the
contrast of a palace and a cellar. Prisoners in America
ought to be very thankful for the humane treatment
they receive under this Christian government.
THE PALACE.
The royal palace is surrounded by high stone walls.
The grounds are entered by four beautiful gates. The
walls at the sides and above the gates are adorned with
the pictures of former kings and brave generals; also
decorative carvings of lions, the standards of Persia,
and of birds. The grounds are beautifully arranged,
all the roads leading to the King's palace in the center,
and beautified with ornamental trees and hedges of
roses of varied hues. Guarding the entrances to the
gates and the roadways that lead to the palace doors
are numerous officers of superior rank, those nearest
the palace ever standing with drawn swords. In this
palace are stored the treasures of Persia, millions of
dollars' worth of jewels. The famous peacock throne
is stored here. In the old days it was the pride of the
rulers at Delhi, and experts say the massive solid gold
46 Persia, the Land of the Magi
structure which blazes with diamonds is worth a mil-
lion. There are fifty gold chairs in the palace.
Amid all this wealth is a remarkable hodge-podge
of articles. For instance, hanging beside the richest
silk curtains are framed soap advertisements, and in
one case, side by side with the rarest vases, are two
coffee boilers and a bunch of fish hooks.
There are cases rilled to the brim with diamonds.
There are also vases of pearls so big that one can
plunge his arm to the elbow in the jewels. Here, too,
is the wonderful globe. It is of solid gold and is set
with 50,000 diamonds, emeralds and amethysts.
Once a year the Shah appears in public. There is
a big army display to entertain the enthusiastic pop-
ulace, and the ruler wears a uniform decorated with
$7,000,000 in diamonds — about a peck of them. Some
say the "jewels and precious stones" in the Persian
palaces and treasury are valued at $250,000,000.
When the King sits in judgment he uses the peacock
throne and is surrounded by his six cabinet officers,
who are advisors. He is absolute, and may overrule
the advice of the cabinet. This body makes the laws
of the land. The King appoints the members of his
cabinet, the people having no voice whatever in gov-
ernment. When the Shah tires of the routine of gov-
ernment his secretary reads to him from Shahnameh,
a poetical history of Persian kings. It is one of the
King's duties to become very familiar with the history
of Persia and her former rulers. When the King
retires to his private room at night the entrance to
the room is guarded by two most trusted officials with
drawn swords. One of the four gates in the walls
The Palace 47
around the palace is called the King's Gate, as he
always enters through it. No other person, be he lord,
count or high official, is permitted to pass through this
gate on horseback or in carriage. He must dismount
and walk through.
When the King goes from the palace for a hunt or
vacation he is escorted out of the city by a large guard.
First, coming down the street will be seen about thirty
infantry, bearing each a golden club, and shouting:
"Get out! Get out!" Whereupon the street is cleared
of all traffic, that the royal procession may pass.
The infantry is followed by about fifty cavalrymen
with drawn swords. Next come ten or a dozen rider-
less Arabian horses. These horses are beauties, and
are adorned with bridles of gold and many precious
stones.
The King's table is set with the luxuries of the land.
From the time of the purchase until it appears on the
table the food is inspected by two trusted officials,
whose duty it is to see that the King is not poisoned.
Before the King eats of the food it is further examined
by his physician.
The late Shah left $200,000,000 to his son, nearly
half of which was in the form of precious stories and
jewelry. Perhaps he has a larger amount invested
in precious stones than any other king in the world.
His peacock throne, which was brought from Delhi,
India, by King Nadirshah, who captured that city
about 200 years ago, was prized at $12,500,000 some
years ago, and is worth more than that now. It is
made of solid gold, and is embedded with diamonds,
pearls and other precious stones. The rug upon which
48 Persia, the Land of the Magi
he prays is worth $2,500,000. At the beginning of
each year, seated on the peacock throne, he wears his
crown, and all of his officers bow before him and wish
him a prosperous reign during the next year. On such
occasions his person is covered with many dazzling
jewels.
CHAPTER II.
Account of the Provinces of Persia.
HAVING given in the preceding chapter a general
sketch of the most prominent features of Persia,
we shall next endeavor to make the reader acquainted
with the nature and extent of its several provinces.
These are :
Fars, Laristan, Kuzistan, Irak, Ardelan, Azerbijan,
Ghilan, Mazunderan, Astrabad, Khorasan, Seistan,
Kerman, Mekran.
FARS.
The province of Fars, the ancient Persis, which we
shall suppose the traveler to enter at Bushire, is, with
some variation, perfectly characterized by the forego-
ing description. It is bounded by the Persian Gulf on
the south; on the east by Kerman and Laristan; on
the west it has Kuzistan ; and on the north Irak. The
eastern parts are more sandy and arid than those to
the north and northwest, but, singular as it may appear,
the latter support a population comparatively smaller
than the former, and Colonel Macdonald Kinneir, in
1809, traveled sixty miles between Bebahan and Shiraz,
through the most delightful vales covered with wood
and verdure, without seeing a human being. The
northern section bordering upon Irak is principally
occupied by wandering tribes, and consists chiefly of
rocky mountains enclosing long narrow glens, many of
(49)
50 Persia, the Land of the Magi
which afford excellent grazing. That of Khoosk e
Zurd (so named from the Yellow Palace, one of the
hunting-seats of Baharam Gour) is about 150 miles
long by fifteen in breadth, the gravelly skirts of the
hill slope in long inclined sweeps to the center of the
valley, which is of rich black loam, and fertilized by
several streams; but "the ruins of towns, villages, and
palaces," says the colonel, "prove that the Eeliauts
were not always permitted to monopolize what might
in truth be denominated the garden of Persia."
The capital of Fars is the famous Shiraz, — a city
which had assuredly no pretensions to importance before
the Mohammedan conquest. Ebn Haukul ascribes its
foundation to a brother of Hujaje ibn Yussuff, a
tyrannical Arabian governor, in the year of the Hejira
74; while a tradition less worthy of credit refers its
origin to Tahmuras Deevebund, or to a king named
Fars, grandson of Noah. Shiraz has at no time been
remarkable for its splendor; for the oldest travelers
allude not to any monuments nor magnificent build-
ings. Mandelsdo declares that, in 1515, it did not
contain 10,000 houses, although its ruins extended two
miles. Sir Thomas Herbert, who is usually accurate,
speaks indeed of certain minarets as high as St. Paul's;
and though he means the old church of that name, it
is difficult to account for the assertion, as no other
writer mentions them. Nor are there any remains to
indicate where they stood, unless they were those to
which Le Bruyn adverts cursorily in 1705, in describ-
ing a mosque "with porticoes and two handsome
towers, of which the tops have been damaged." Tav-
ernier pays no high compliment except to its wines
and fruits, which are still celebrated; and he states
Provinces of Persia — Fars 51
that its mud walls had fallen down. Le Bruyn, after
an imposing enumeration of 38 muhulehs or wards,
300 mosques, 200 baths, and so on, concludes by saying
that the "greater number of the buildings in this city,
which has a circuit of two leagues, are in a decayed
state, and the streets so narrow and dirty as to be
scarcely passable in rainy weather." Even in the time
of Chardin the place was full of ruins, and he could
launch into no great praises of its beauty, or its public
edifices. The Jumah Musjed, or that generally called
the Musjed e Now or New Mosque, founded about
600 years ago by Attabeg Shah, is the only structure
which he calls magnificent; but he adds, it is superior
to any in Ispahan. Scott Waring doubts if Shiraz ever
merited the encomiums lavished upon it; he states
the circumference to be about five miles, and that at
least one-fourth of its houses are in ruins. We should
suppose that this proportion is much greater; and the
melancholy effects of a late earthquake have still
farther reduced the number of habitable mansions.
Before that catastrophe, the population might amount
to 30,000, though Sir W. Ouseley estimated them at
not more than 20,000.
The principal object of curiosity within the walls is
the Bazaar e Wukeel, erected by Kureem Khan Zund,
a magnificent arcade half a mile long, and perhaps forty
feet wide, constructed of excellent brick-work, and
affording accommodation to several hundred shop-
keepers. The mollahs withhold from Christians admit-
tance into the great mosque mentioned above, the
front of which is said to be 150 yards. Sixty other
places of worship, though generally mean, with an
equal number of Imamzadehs or tombs of saints,
52 Persia, the Land of the Magi
attest the justice of this city's claims to sanctity.1
All indeed that now remains entire of Shiraz is the work
of Kureem Khan, who raised up its mutilated fences,
built a citadel, with many mosques and colleges, as
well as its celebrated bazaar. It, however, owes its
principal interest to certain objects in its vicinity; for
the tombs of Sadi and Hafiz are still to be seen close
to the spot which gave them birth. But the rose-
gardens have faded since the days of the poet; its
environs are covered with ruins and wretchedness,2 a
broken monument marks the site of the ' ' sweet bowers
of Mosselah," and the celebrated stream of Roknabad
is now only a rill, drawing its silver thread through a
scarcely perceptible strip of verdure.
Besides Shiraz, Fars could once boast of several great
cities, which in their turn became capitals of the empire.
Of Ishtakhar mention will be made hereafter, when
describing the ruins of Persepolis. The antiquities of
Darabgerd, Firozeabad, and Fesa, will also be adverted
to. These disappointed the expectation of Sir W.
Ousely, and the towns themselves now are far from
being of any importance. The first may contain 15,000
inhabitants, — the second not above one-fifth that
number; but Firozeabad is distinguished as having
been built by Ardeshir Babegan, the first of the Sas-
sanian monarchs, and for still having in its vicinity
some traces of his dynasty. Kauzeroun probably grew
out of the ruins of Shapoor, although, like every city
of Persia, it lays claim to a remote antiquity. It is
1 Shiraz also pretends to superior learning, and was of old called the Daur
ul Ilm, or the Gate or Abiding-place of Science; but the character of its
inhabitants for bravery is better established.
- There are several royal gardens, with their corresponding palaces and
pleasure-houses in the vicinitj' of the city; and at a further distance to the
east there are a number of gardens belonging to indi\ iduals.
Provinces of Persia — Kuzistan 53
still a place of some importance, being situated in a
fine and well-watered valley ; but civil wars and rapac-
ity have so much impoverished it, that, with all its
advantages, it cannot boast of more than 3,000 or 4,000
inhabitants; and its walls enclose more ruins than
houses.
LARISTAN.
Laristan, once an independent kingdom, now a
parched desert, needs little description. Rocky moun-
tains, and valleys of sand and salt, alone diversify its
surface. Yet Chardin says he found in several places
the orange, the pomegranate, and the date-tree grow-
ing luxuriantly. The city contained about 200 houses,
composed chiefly of the date-tree; nor does he speak
of the ancient magnificence and extensive ruins alluded
to by other authors. The noble bazaar constructed
by order of Shah Abbas is the sole object worthy of
attention in the place, if we except the castle, which
stands upon a hill behind the town, and is reputed to
have been impregnable. But its chief defense appears
to have arisen from the impossibility of approaching it.
The seaport of Congoon is said to accommodate 6,000
inhabitants, and to afford an excellent roadstead,
where a frigate might lie safely at anchor. But the
whole of the coast is in possession of piratical Arabs,
and many of their most favorite places of resort are
to be found in its bays and creeks.
KUZISTAN.
Kuzistan, the ancient Susiana, which lies to the
northwest of Fars, upon the northern bank of the
Tigris, may be divided into two districts essentially
54 Persia, the Land of the Magi
different from each other in their character and climate.
The first, extending from the shores of the Gulf to the
hills bordering upon the fine valley of Ram Hormuz,
and from the banks of the Tab to the confluence of the
Karoon and Abzal, is called the Chab country. It is
subject to an Arab sheik, who maintains a dubious
independence in this miserable territory, by far the
greater part of which is entirely desert, and during the
heats of summer very dangerous, from a scorching
wind that, like the simoom, destroys both travelers
and cattle. Only in the environs of Dorak, on the
banks of the Hafer (a branch of the Karoon), and on
those of the Shut el Arab is there found any fertility;
and there dates and rice are produced. Dorak, or
rather Felahi, built upon the site of the ancient Dorak
by Sheik Solyman, and the principal town of the Chab
province, is a wretched place. It stands on the banks
of the Jerahi, is about two miles in circumference,
consists chiefly of date-tree huts, is surrounded by a
mud wall, and contains 7,000 or 8,000 inhabitants.
Here resides the sheik in patriarchal style, occupying
with his brothers and family a large but indifferent
palace. His revenues amount to about £50,000 a year;
and, in 1809, he could bring 25,000 horsemen and
20,000 foot into the field. But these troops were
totally undisciplined, and unfit to contend with any
regular force. Several powerful tribes having rebelled,
a battle, in which 10,000 on each side were engaged
four days, was fought while Colonel Macdonald Kin-
neir was in the country, and there were in all but five
men killed and wounded. This fact may serve to illus-
trate the spirit of the combatants, and the general
character of their wars.
Provinces of Persia — Kuzistan 55
The government of Shuster, which is under charge
of a beglerbeg, forms the second division, and com-
prises not only the fairest part of Kuzistan, but that
which might be rendered the most productive prov-
ince of Persia. Watered by four large rivers, the
Karoon, the Abzal, the Kerah or Karasu, and the Shut
el Hud, besides many lesser streams, and blessed with
a rich soil, it might be made the granary of the empire;
but ignorance and oppression have reduced a country,
which once yielded the best crops of cotton and sugar,
rice and grain, to a condition little better than that of
a forsaken waste. "The exorbitant contributions
levied by the beglerbeg from the cultivators of the
soil had been exacted with so much severity," says
Colonel Macdonald Kinneir, "as to drive these unfor-
tunate people from their habitations; and the eye
became fatigued with the continued chain of deserted
villages." To this may be added the depredations of
the wandering tribes, both Persian and Arabian, who
feed their flocks on the banks of the several rivers.
Five chiefs, four of whom were brothers, having seized
upon the beautiful valley of Ram Hormuz,3 indulged
their marauding disposition so far as to carry off each,
other's cattle and corn. When Colonel Macdonald
and Major Monteith were traveling through this dis-
trict in 1810, they became alternately the guests of
two of these relations, who each heartily abused the
other. At the house of the youngest, just as they had
finished breakfast, the host entered armed and equipped
for an expedition. He said he was sure that shabby
3 It is sixty miles long by six to eight in breadth, and is watered by the
Jerahi. The ruins of an ancient city of the same name are to be seen in the
valley, which was also the scene of that decisive battle between Ardcshir
Babegan and Artabanes (the last of the Arsacidas), in which the former was
victorious, and was hailed on the field as Shah in Shah.
56 Persia, the Land of the Magi
fellow, his brother, whom they had seen the previous
day, must have treated them scurvily, as he knew
nothing of true hospitality, — but if they would accom-
pany him, they should have their revenge, and as much
plunder as their horses could carry off. This proposal
was of course declined, and the chief proceeded upon
his enterprise, from which, towards evening, he returned
loaded with booty. When on such occasions blood is
shed, and complaints are made, these turbulent chiefs
are summoned to the tribunal of the Beglerbeg of Beba-
han; but the party who deposits with the judge the
largest sum of money is always sure to gain the cause.
The same gentlemen being attacked in the desert,
between Shuster and Ram Hormuz, by a Persian tribe,
not only beat them off, but took one of their leaders.
Returning to the city, they demanded in the name of
the British ambassador that he should be publicly chas-
tised. But the governor, who was their personal
friend, confessed his inability to punish the offender,
and advised them rather to close with an offer which
he made, to conduct them through the desert on con-
dition of receiving pardon. This alternative was
accepted. Next morning accordingly the travelers set
out, escorted by sixty of the same banditti who on the
preceding day had attempted to murder them; and
who now, after accompanying them to the borders of
their country, a distance of seventy miles, retired con-
tented with a trifling present.
Shuster, the capital of the district, and residence of
the beglerbeg, stands at the foot of the Buchtiaree
Mountains, on an eminence above the river Karoon,
over which there is a bridge of one arch eighty feet
high. It boasts of many magnificent remains. The
Provinces of Persia — Kuzistan 57
castle, said to have been the abode of the Emperor
Valerian when taken prisoner by Shapoor, the second
of the Sassanides, is still partly standing, and a single
gate in the Roman fashion, which was furnished with
a drawbridge, is yet entire. Near it is a noble dyke
or bund, built across the Karoon by Shapoor, to raise
the water for purposes of irrigation. It is composed
of cut stone, bound together with iron clamps, and is
400 yards in length. The damage it had sustained
from accident or neglect was repaired by the late
Mohammed Ali Meeza, governor of Kermanshah, — a
rare instance of patriotic munificence in the ruling
family of Persia. The artificial canal formed by this
dyke crosses the country in a winding direction to
Dezphool; it is spanned by a bridge of hewn stone
consisting of thirty-two arches, of which twenty-eight
are standing, and is the work of the same magnificent
monarch.
The city of Shuster contains, according to Colonel
Macdonald, about 15,000 souls, the houses being well-
built of stone, although the streets are narrow and
dirty. It is said to have been erected by Shapoor,
under the direction of his prisoner Valerian; and to
this opinion the traveler so often quoted inclines, rather
than to that which would identify it with the ancient
Susa, or Shushan of Scripture. He conceives that
this appellation may be more correctly assigned to
Shus, a mass of ruins situated upon the banks of the
Kerah or Karasu. The remains, which occupy an
immense space between that river and the Abzal, con-
sist of heaps of rubbish, somewhat resembling those
of Babylon ; the whole being now a howling wilderness,
the haunt of lions, hyenas, and other beasts of prey.
58 Persia, the Land of the Magi
In the midst of this desolation, at the foot of one of
the largest piles, stands a small and comparatively
modern building, erected, it is said, on the spot where
rest the bones of the prophet Daniel; and this tomb
served to protect during a whole night the two trav-
elers whom we have named from the fierce animals
which infest its precincts. Such is the fallen state of
the ancient Shushan! such the condition of the rich
province of Elam and its stately capital ! of that proud
city which witnessed the magnificence of the Median
and Persian kings in the height of their glory, and
was the scene of the prophetic vision of Daniel,4 but
which, like the mortal remains of that inspired person
himself, has mouldered into dust ; while the rich coun-
try of which it was the ornament, with all its gardens,
its cultivated fields and populous villages, is one vast
and desolate waste.5
IRAK.
Irak, which comprises the greater part of ancient
Media and Parthia, is the largest and one of the most
valuable provinces of Persia, and contains, besides the
modern capital Ispahan, many of the finest cities in
the kingdom. The appearance of it, we are told by
Colonel Macdonald Kinneir, is almost everywhere the
same, being entirely mountainous ; and, like the north-
ern part of Fars, the valleys are of indefinite length,
* Daniel viii, 2.
6 For the arguments which are adduced to prove that the ruins of Shus
are those of Shushan or Susa, we refer to Colonel Macdonald Kinneir's
Memoir, p. 97, et seq.,—to Sir W. Ouseley's Travels, and to Bell's edition of
Rollin's Ancient History, Glasgow, 1826, vol. i, p. 194 (note). Assuredly
Kuzistan, with its numerous ruins, presents a richer field of research to the
antiquary than any other province of Persia.
Provinces of Persia — Irak 59
though they seldom exceed ten or fifteen miles m
breadth. The hills, which are barren and devoid of
timber, run almost invariably from west to east, and
either gradually sink into the desert, or throw out
branches into the provinces of Kerman and Khorasan.
The valleys are for the most part uncultivated, except
in the vicinity of the villages; but cannot on that
account (at least those to the north and west) be called
sterile; on the contrary, the land is good and capable
of yielding abundance of corn. "It is oppression, and
a consequent deficiency of population, not the poorness
of soil and want of water, that occasions the present
desolate appearance of those plains, which the ruins
of cities and of aqueducts demonstrate to have been
formerly in a very different condition." Such is an
accurate description of this province in general; and
though a partial improvement has occasionally resulted
from a more lenient adninistration, as in those districts
more immediately under the government of the late
Sudr Ameen, still the greater part bears witness to the
destructive operation of a venal tyranny.
Ispahan, although fallen from that high and palmy
state which in the reign of the Sooffees rendered it one
of the noblest capitals of the East, and though no
longer exalted by the residence of its sovereign, still
holds the first rank among Persian cities. The most
minute and accurate account of it, while yet the seat
of empire, is that given by Chardin, who has inter-
woven with his detail of palaces, caravansaries, and
mosques, so great a variety of curious matter, as to
give singular interest to a subject that otherwise must
have been excessively tedious. We shall, however,
content ourselves with a few particulars resting upon
60 Persia, the Land of the Magi
his authority ; and then by the aid of modern travelers
endeavor to convey an idea of the present state of this
great metropolis.
Ispahan, by some considered as the Aspadana of
Ptolemy, and certainly a very ancient city,6 is built
upon the Zeinderood, which, rising in the Koh e Zurd
or Yellow Mountain, has been artificially increased by
the addition of another river, called by Chardin the
Mahmood Ker; and although furnishing during the
heats of summer but a scanty stream, in the spring
months it attains to a size which equals the Seine at
Paris in winter. The walls, constructed of mud, are
estimated by the traveler just named at about 20,000
paces in circumference.7 Even in his time they were
in bad repair, and so closely surrounded by houses
and gardens that they could hardly be seen; while of
38,249 buildings which were reckoned as belonging
to the city, 29,469 were within and 8,780 without their
circuit. Of these structures 162 were mosques, 48
medressas, 1,802 caravansaries, and 273 hummaums
or baths ; and the population was differently estimated
at from 600,000 to 1,100,000. This would give the
extraordinary average of from twenty to thirty persons
for each house.8 Chardin affirms that Ispahan was
as populous as London in those days, and consequently
more so than any other city of Europe. The Persians,
• Early in the third century it is mentioned as having been taken by Arde-
shir Babegan.
7 He also says that the city is twenty-four miles round.
8 The credit due to these statements would greatly depend upon the defini-
tion of the term house. If, for instance, the dwelling of a great lord, which
contain a harem and slaves to the extent of 100 or 200 souls, be considered
as only forming one house, it would bring the average more within probable
bounds. It must likewise be remembered that, in estimating the population
of an Eastern town, by the numbers that frequent the streets, a large allow-
ance should be made for the women, who for the most part come little out.
Provinces of Persia — Irak 61
with their usual vanity, conceived that no town in the
universe could come near it in point of grandeur and
size; and the saying, " Ispahan nesfe jehan ust" (Ispa-
han is half the world) is still in their mouths. The
country ten leagues round was richly covered with
gardens, orchards, and cultivation of every kind, and
1,500 well-peopled villages poured daily supplies into
the capital; for, excepting cattle, the neighborhood
furnished every necessary. So closely invested was
the city with these orchards, and so numerous were the
rows of noble chinars within the walls, that scarcely
any buildings were discernible from a distance, except
a few of the domes and minarets appearing above the
trees. Its greatest beauty consisted in the number
of magnificent palaces, gay and smiling houses, spacious
caravansaries, and handsome bazaars which studded
every quarter ; for the streets were as crooked, narrow
and dirty as at present, and unpaved, like those of
most Persian towns.
Such was the state of Ispahan when Chardin wrote.
Its palaces were then the dwelling of a powerful mon-
arch and his family. His splendid court was crowded
by wealthy nobles, who embellished the city with their
habitations, and gave life and animation to the squares
and public places with their glittering retinues. The
bazaars were frequented by merchants who filled them
with valuable commodities; caravans arrived daily,
and the streets swarmed with a dense population. The
mosques were served by numerous mollahs and priests,
while the colleges were filled with pupils and teachers.
The accotmts, even of those modern travelers who are
most disposed to view Persia with a favorable eye make
manifest how lamentably the scene is altered.
62 Persia, the Land of the Magi
"Nothing," says the author of Sketches of Persia,
"can exceed the fertility and beauty of the country in
the vicinity of Ispahan ; and the first view of that city
is very imposing. All is noble that meets the eye, —
the groves, avenues, and spreading orchards with
which it abounds, concealing the ruins of this once
famed capital. A nearer view, however, dispels the
illusion; but still much remains of wealth, if -not of
splendor." "Among the first objects that strike our
eyes," remarks Sir Robert Ker Porter (on his approach
from the same direction, the south), "were the num-
erous and nobly-constructed bridges, each carrying its
long level line of thickly-ranged arches to porch-like
structures of the finest elevations; some fallen into
stately ruin, others nearly entire, but all exhibiting
splendid memorials of the triumphal ages of the Son
race. . . . All spoke of the gorgeous, populous
past, but all that remained in present life seemed lost
in silence. . . . We entered the southern gate of
the town, and immediately came out into one of those
umbrageous aventies of trees which render the interior
of Ispahan in this quarter a very paradise. It ter-
minated in the great bazaar of Shah Abbas, the whole
of which enormous length of building is vaulted above,
to exclude heat, but admit air and light. Hundreds
of shops without an inhabitant filled the sides of this
epitome of a deserted mercantile world; and having
traversed their untrodden labyrinths for an extent
of nearly two miles, we entered the Maidan Shah, an-
other spacious, soundless theatre of departed grandeur.
The present solitude of so magnificent a place was
rendered more impressive by our horses' footsteps as
Provinces of Persia — Irak 63
we passed through its immense quadrangle to the palace
that was to be our temporary abode."
The above may be contrasted with the account given
by Morier of the entry of Sir Harford Jones, the Brit-
ish envoy, in 1809: "The great number of buildings
which stud every part of the plain of Ispahan might
lead the traveler to suppose that he was entering a dis-
trict of immense populations, yet almost the whole
view consists of the ruins of towns, and there are only
here and there spots which are enlivened by the com-
munities of men. But whatever may be the condition
of modern Persia, its former state, if the remains scat-
tered over the country are sufficient evidences,9 must
have been flourishing and highly-peopled. . . .
When we came to the plain, the city of Ispahan rose
upon the view, and its extent was so great east and
west that my sight could not reach its bounds. The
crowd was now intensely great, and at intervals quite
impeded our progress. . . . We proceeded along
the banks of the Zeinderood, on the opposite side of
which were rows of firs and ancient pinasters. We
saw three bridges of singular yet beautiful construc-
tion. That over which we crossed was composed of
thirty-three lower arches, above each of which were
ranged three smaller ones. There is a covered cause-
way for foot-passengers; the surface of the bridge is
paved, and level throughout the whole of its extent.
After we had crossed it, we proceeded through a gate
into the Char Baugh, which is a spacious piece of
ground, having two rows of chinar-trees in the middle,
9 That they are not entirely so might easily be proved; as ruins in a dry
climate will remain for many ages, and those belonging to very different eras
may be viewed as having all existed in their entire state at one and the same
time, thus attributing to one period the aggregate population of many.
64 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and two more on each side. The garden is divided
into parterres, and copiously watered by canals of
water, which run from one side of it to the other, and
which, at regular intervals, are collected into basins,
square or octagonal. This fine alley is raised at sepa-
rate distances into terraces, from which the water
falls in cascades. Of the chinar-trees which line the
walks, most can be traced to the time of Shah Abbas;
and when any have fallen, others have been imme-
diately planted. On either side of the Char Baugh are
the eight gardens which the Persians call Hesht Behesht,
or Eight Paradises. They are laid out into regular
walks of the chinar-tree, are richly watered, and have
each a pleasure-house, of which we were conducted
to occupy the best, — that, at least, which certainly
was more in repair than the others. The rest are in
a state of decay, and corroborate only by the remains
of the beautifully-painted walls and gilded panels
those lively and luxuriant descriptions of their splendor
which travelers have given."
The most complete view of the city is obtained, from
a tower to the south, called Meel e Shatir.10 A very
imposing though melancholy prospect likewise pre-
sents itself on ascending to the top of the principal
10 This column was probably so called because persons aspiring to be king's
shatirs proved their abilities by running, between sunrise and sunset, a cer-
tain number of times to this pillar and back to the pilace; but tradition
assigns to the name a more romantic origin. A king of Persia promised his
daughter in marriage to any one who should run before his horse all the way
from Shiraz to Ispahan. One of his shatirs had so nearly accomplished the
task as to gain this height, when the monarch, alarmed lest he should be
forced to fulfil the agreement, dropped his whip. The shatir, aware that,
owing to the ligatures these people tied around their bodies to enable them
to perform such feats, it would be death to stoop, contrived to pick it up with
his foot. The trick thus having failed, the royal rider dropped his ring; the
shatir then saw that his fate was decided, and exclaiming, "O king, you have
broken your word, but I am true to the last!" he stooped, picked up the ring,
and expired.
Provinces oj Persia — Irak 65
gate of the palace, termed AH Capi or Exalted, which
overlooks the Maidan Shah, — an almost interminable
variety of houses, walls, mosques, shops, bazaars, and
shapless structures, stretching over the plain on all
sides to the distant mountains. But unvaried as are
the visible objects, it is not until the want of noise, or
smoke, or dust, or movement forces itself upon the
observation, that the spectator knows he is looking on
a vast desert of ruins. When the author of these
pages saw this remarkable scene, perhaps the desolate
effect was heightened by the season of the year. Only
on the side of the palace was the eye relieved by the
sumptuous edifices and gardens enclosed within the
walls, and by the dome of a mosque or a medressa,
whose lacquered tiles glittered in the sun. Even in
these gardens, and in the noble avenues of Shah Abbas,
the forms of the trees have been spoiled by trimming
them into tall rods with bushels at their tops, not
unlike those in the vicinity of London, so that they
neither make a show nor afford much shade.
Of the palaces, the Chehel Sittoon is the most sump-
tuous. Its Hall of Columns, from which the name
is derived, inlaid with mirrors so as to resemble pillars
of glass, is reflected from a basin of clear water which
stretches in front. The walls and roof are decorated
with the same fragile material, but with much taste,
and interspersed with flowers of gold, so as to convey
an impression of great magnificence. Within is a
saloon seventy-five feet long by thirty-six wide, form-
ing a noble gallery; on the walls of which are six large
and many smaller pictures, representing the achieve-
ments of Shah Ismael, Nadir Shah, and other Persian
conquerors, with some banquet-scenes, which furnish
66 Persia, the Land of the Magi
curious memorials of the manners and customs of past
ages. In this splendid hall are rolled up and carefully-
preserved by each successive sovereign the superb
carpets that were trodden by the Great Abbas, more
than two hundred years ago, which far surpass in
beauty and texture the flimsy fabrics of modern manu-
facture. This palace is situated in the center of a
garden, divided, according to the national custom, into
compartments by walks and canals bordered with
poplars and stately chinars. There are, besides, a
number of other palaces, each in its own garden: as
the Narangistan. or Orangery; the Ungooristan, or
Grapery; the Eynah Khaneh, or Hall of Mirrors; the
Ashruff Khaneh; the Talar Tabeelah; the Hesht
Behesht ; the Gool dushteh ; all possessing their separate
beauties, but which admit not of suitable description.
Of the mosques and colleges celebrated by Chardin,
many have fallen into decay : but the Musjed Shah, and
that of Lootf Oollah in the Maidan Shah, are in per-
fect preservation and richly adorned. The medressa
built by the mother of Shah Abbas is by far the most
elegant, and in the best repair. Its gates are covered
with wrought silver; and in the garden are some old
pinasters and chinars, which have never been profaned
by axe or knife.
But in the days of its splendor, perhaps the greatest
ornament of Ispahan was the Maidan Shah or Great
Square, to which may be assigned a length of 700
yards and a breadth of 200. Each side presents a
double range of arched recesses, the longest containing
eighty-six, the shortest thirty. In the center of the
southwestern face rises the AH Capi gate; opposite
to which, in the northeastern side, stands the mosque
Provinces of Persia — Irak 67
of Lootf Oollah. The superb entrance of the Musjed
Shah occupies the center of the southeastern end, and
in the middle of the northwestern is the great gate
leading to the principal bazaar and the town. Above
this gate in old times stood the clock mentioned by
Chardin, which used to amuse the people with its
puppets, but this is no longer in existence; nor do the
cannon, which were placed within a balustrade before
the gate of the palace, retain their position. The
balustrade itself is gone; and the Maidan has ceased
to present the busy scene it was wont to display in
more prosperous days. Of the trees that surrounded
it not one is left; the canals which supplied it with
water are dry.11 The houses in its vicinity are no
longer inhabited, — the very doors are built up; a
blank row of archways occupies the place where the
most brilliant shops arranged their wares. That great
area, where the nobles of Persia mtistered their glitter-
ing trains and the chivalry of the kingdom exhibited
their prowess before their gallant monarch, or which
echoed with the shouts and sparkled with the pomp of
the dazzling No Roz, is now a cheerless and deserted
void. Little is heard save the occasional tramp of a
mule; its loneliness is rarely interrupted unless by the
gowned form of a mollah as he creeps towards the
mosque, or by the worshipers who resort thither at
the hour of prayer. The bazaars are still partially
crowded, and nothing shows the former wealth and
greatness of this capital more than the immense accom-
modation prepared for trade. For miles together the
stranger finds himself led along these vaulted recep-
tacles, on each side of which are openings leading to
llSir R. K. Porter says there was water in them.
68 Persia, the Land of the Magi
caravansaries. But many of these are falling to decay;
and even the bazaar of Shah Abbas is partially unoccu-
pied, while some of its caravansaries have been con-
verted into stables for the cattle, mules, and asses of
the townspeople.
From all that has been said of this celebrated capital,
it will be inferred that its present population is com-
paratively small. The miseries it suffered during the
Afghan usurpation were succeeded by the loss of that
which alone could have repaired the evil — the pres-
ence of the sovereign. Years of anarchy increased
the desolation, and tyranny completed it. In 1800,
the inhabitants were calculated by Malcolm to amount
to 100,000; in 1810, they were said to be double that
number; but, if any reliance can be placed upon infor-
mation obtained on the spot in 1821, it did not at
that period contain nearly so many. In fact, it is not
easy on this subject to approach the truth.
The suburb of Julfah, so celebrated as a colony of
Armenians transported from the city of that name on
the Araxes, suffered no less in this ruthless invasion;
but it began to decline from the time it lost its founder.
In the days of Shah Abbas it contained 30,000 inhabi-
tants of 3,400 families, with twenty-four churches and
a large ecclesiastical establishment.12 Sir W. Ouseley
estimated them at from 300 to 400 households; but
the Rev. Henry Martyn states, that in 1812 there were
500 families13 who attended twelve parish churches,
served by about twenty priests. They are a poor
oppressed race.
15 Twenty bishops and 100 other clergy. Rev. Henry Martyn's Journal
in 1811.
IS A census stated to have been taken of the inhabitants of Julfah by order
of their bishop, which made them 12,500.
Provinces of Persia — Irak 69
The causes which reduced the city of Ispahan to its
present condition have extended to the whole district.
All the way indeed to the frontiers of Fars the eye is
caught by the appearance of villages and towns, which
a nearer approach discovers to be almost tenantless.
From Ispahan to Teheran the road passes through
a country which, generally speaking, presents few
signs of fertility or populousness. During the first
thirty miles, the vestiges of former prosperity decrease,
although at the village of Moorchacoor there is a
considerable tract of improved land. Travelers find
accommodation in an excellent caravansary built by
the mother of Shah Abbas, with good stables, baths,
and a reservoir of water. It is celebrated as the scene
of the action between Nadir Shah and the Afghan
Ashruff, in which the power of the latter was finally
broken.
The next twenty miles led over a dreary plain with-
out verdure or cultivation. So great is the deception
created by its uniform surface, that an object fully
twelve miles distant did not seem more than three
from the eye; and in clear weather it was difficult to
imagine that a point which was supposed to be almost
within hail should have proved the next halting-place
at least a score of miles in advance. From thence the
road winds among hills to Kohrood, a beautiful village
in a valley abounding with orchards and fruit-trees,
and which in spring and summer is a truly delightful
place. From the top of the pass above Kohrood a
noble prospect is obtained of all the country to the
foot of the Elburz Mountains, with their fine outline
extending from west to east as far as the eye can
reach; and the lofty conical peak of Demawund clad
70 Persia, the Land of the Magi
in snow is seen soaring far above the rest into the
clouds that usually rest upon its shoulders. In this
range are seen the lovely valleys of Khonsar, Natunz,
and others, — the first remarkable for its rich gardens
and the romantic character of its rocks, — the second
famous for its pears, peaches, and pretty girls. All
this district produces abundance of excellent silk.
An agreeable ride down the glen brings the traveler
to the town of Cashan, which is situated in a plain
some distance from the mountain-foot, and visible
long ere he approaches it. The country around is
well cultivated, and yields fruits of all sorts, especially
pears, melons, figs, and grapes. The pomegranates
of a certain garden at Cashan are particularly exquisite
and famous. The town itself is fully as large as
Shiraz, while it is less ruinous and better peopled.
It is said to have been founded by Zobeide, the wife
of Haroun al Raschid; but Sir William Ouseley con-
tends that she could only have enlarged or rebuilt it,
as it is mentioned in history as having, in conjunction
with Koom, furnished its contingent of troops at the
fatal battle of Kudseah (A. D. 636). It is now famous
for the manufacture of silk and cotton stuffs, brocades
carpets, and particularly for its copper ware.
From Cashan to Koom the road is fifty-seven miles,
and leads chiefly through a country depopulated by
the inroads of the Turkomans, skipting the Kuveer or
great salt desert of Khorasan, and at the foot of a
range of singularly barren hills, composed of rocks of
a primitive character.
No two cities can form a stronger contrast to each
other than Koom and Cashan, — the latter neat, popu-
lous, and industrious, — the former idle and fanatical,
Provinces of Persia — Irak 71
the abode of ignorance and bigotry. On entering the
gateway ruins and dirt meet the eye; and if a human
figure appear, ten to one it is that of a mollah. The
place is rich only in shrines and priests, the domes and
minarets of the imamzadehs and mosques being more
numerous than the inhabited houses; yet many even
of these were falling into decay, and the storks' nests
on their tops gave them a still greater air of desola-
tion. As a place of Sheah pilgrimage it ranks next to
Kerbeleh and Mushed, and many rich gifts are offered
by the more distinguished visitors. The king fre-
quently repairs thither, and keeps up a show of pious
humility by walking on foot and bestowing presents,
which, however, are sometimes more showy than valu-
able. The most celebrated shrine at Koom is the
mausoleum of Fatima al Masoomah, — Fatima the
Immaculate, — a sister of AH Reza, the eighth imam.
The remains of this lady repose in a tomb, the top of
which is enclosed by a frame of sandal-wood, under a
green silk canopy, and surrounded by a grate with
cross bars of massy silver. This occupies the center
of a lofty mosque, adorned with mosaic work in colored
tiles, and fitted up with rich carpets. The sepulchre
is coeval with the period of Fatima's death; but the
mosque was erected by the present monarch upon the
ruins of a smaller building endowed by Shah Abbas;
and his mother covered the dome with gilt tiles, which
make a resplendent show even at a great distance.
All the Suffavean kings have added to its ornaments
or its wealth. The sword of the great Abbas hangs
within the railing; and Shah Sen I. Abbas II. lie
interred in the edifice.
The city, which, from the sanctity of its priests and
72 Persia, the Land of the Magi
saints, has obtained the name of Daur al Mourshedeen,
the Abode of the Pious, claims a high antiquity; and
D'Anville supposes it to be the Choana of Ptolemy.
But its sacred character has not saved it from the
fanaticism or barbarity of other sectarians; for it was
destroyed by Tumir, and by the Afghans in 1722, from
which last misfortune it has never recovered.
From Koom to Teheran is eighty miles, the greater
part of which lies across a desert including an arm
of a salt marsh called the Deria Kuveer. After leaving
this barren track, the traveler enters a pass among
low mountains, distinguished by the ominous name of
Dereh Malek al Mout, — the Valley of the Angel of
Death; and dreary and dangerous enough it is, espe-
cially in bad weather. It fell to the lot of the author of
these pages to ride, without stopping, except to feed
the horses, from Koom to Teheran, and to pass the
Deria Kuveer in a bitter evening, and this formidable
valley in the dark snowy night that followed. The
party lost their way, which was only found with diffi-
culty after meeting a small caravan of mules ; and one
of the servants was nearly frozen to death as they
entered the caravansary of Kinaraghird. The sight
of the plain of Teheran at daybreak, with that of the
city at the foot of the Elburz, was most gratifying,
although the walls were still many miles distant and
the adjoining mountains covered with snow.
The plain in which the present capital of Persia
stands has no beauty to recommend it ; being bare, very
partially cultivated, totally deficient in trees, and pro-
ducing no verdure, unless during spring. The city
itself merits little attention, except in as far as it is the
residence of the sovereign. It is about four miles in
Provinces of Persia — Irak 73
circumference, girt with a high mud wall, flanked with
numerous towers and a dry ditch. The ark or palace
is the only building of consequence. The bazaars are
well filled; the mosques, colleges and caravansaries in
good repair; and the private houses are plain, but
comfortable. It might appear strange that the mon-
arch should have chosen for the seat of his court a
place originally so mean; but this preference is
explained by its vicinity to Mazunderan and Astrabad,
the native possessions of his family. The population
varies with his periodical motions. While he con-
tinues there it amounts to at least 300,000 souls; when
he removes it decreases about two-thirds. There are
several gardens and country-houses to which his
majesty occasionally repairs, as the Tucht e Kujeriah
and the Nigahristan; but before the heats of summer
commence, he always assembles his army, and encamps
on the plains of Sultanieh.
The most interesting object near Teheran are the
ruins of Rhe\ the Rhages of Scripture and of Arian,
contemporary with Nineveh and Ecbatana, and cele-
brated as the scene of many important events. Here
Alexander halted for five days in his pursuit of Darius.
It was the capital of the Parthian kings, and, above all,
the birthplace and a favorite resort of Haroun al
Raschid. It has been repeatedly ruined by wars and
by earthquakes. In the tenth century it occupied a
square of a parasang and a half; but soon falling into
decay, it was rebuilt and repeopled by Gazan Khan,
and became the occasional residence of the good Shah
Rokh, grandson to Timur. From that time it sank
gradually into neglect, and is now a heap of ruins
covering a great extent of ground, among which the
74 Persia, the Land of the Magi
village of Shah Abdulazeem alone flourishes, — a green
spot amid the surrounding desolation.
From Teheran to Casbin, a distance of ninety-six
miles, the road leads through a long valley better cul-
tivated than usual, of which the Elburz forms the
northern boundary. The latter was founded by Sha-
poor Zoolactaf, and previous to the reign of Shah
Abbas was the capital of the Sooffee dynasty. It is
one of the largest and most commercial cities in Persia ;
although when Morier visited it in 1 809 it had suffered
severely by an earthquake, to which calamity all
the towns at the foot of these mountains are subject.
A strong wind blowing from the north, and called
the Baud e Caucasan, renders the climate rather too
cold in spring, although it refreshes the sir in summer.
Sultanieh, eighty-six miles farther to the westward,
once a noble city, is now but a village in an extensive
plain, which in summer is covered with the tents and
huts of the royal army surrounding the palace of the
king. The tomb of Sultan Mohammed Khodabundeh,
brother of the celebrated Gzzan Khan, a noble struc-
ture of brickwork, with a dome once covered with
lacquered tiles, forms a conspicuous object amid the
ruins.
From this point a route, leading in a general direction
south-southwest, carries the traveler across the country
to Hamadan and Kermanshah, through mountainous
tracts varied with fertile spots and pleasant valleys.
The first of these cities, supposed to occupy the site
of Ecbatana, stands at the foot of Elwund, the ancient
Orontes, the snowy peak of which forms a fine feature
of the landscape, and is well contrasted with the rich
cultivation and foliage that surrounds the town.
Provinces of Persia — Irak 75
It was destroyed by Timur ; and though once possessed
of considerable magnificence, is now a collection of
clay- built, houses containing a population of about
50,000 persons. The chief objects of curiosity, besides
the antiquities, are two buildings said to be the sep-
ulchre of Esther and Mordecai. and that of the philos-
opher Avicenna, or, as he is called by the Persians.
Abo Sinnah.
Between Hamadan and Kungawur intervenes a fer-
tile tract held by a branch of the tribe of Affshar.
The small town of Kungawur, which D'Anville con-
siders as the Concobar of antiquity, is remarkable for
the ruins of a magnificent edifice described by Sir
B. K. Porter and by him supposed to have been the
celebrated temple of Diana. A further route of fifty-
two miles conducts to Kermanshah, a thriving city,
exhibiting in the time of the traveler just named the
advantages derived from the residence of a prince and
court less dependent than others upon that of the prin-
cipal sovereign. It contains about 15,000 families,
and is adorned with many handsome public buildings.
Of the large expanse of country between Kerman-
shah and Ispahan, comprehending Louristan, we can
only say that it embraces some of the most fruitful
parts of Irak; although, being chiefly occupied by the
wandering tribes of Lac, Feilee, and Buchtiaree, little
attention is paid to agriculture. The valleys are cov-
ered by their black tents, but the villages are very rare.
The only town is Korrumabad, the ancient Corbiene,
the capital of the Feilee chief; but to the northeast
lie Hissar, Boorojird, and Nahavund. This last is a
name disastrous to Persia; for it was on the adjoining
plains that the contest was decided between the vota-
76 Persia, the Land of the Magi
ries of Zoroaster and the followers of Mohammed,
and that the last of the race of Sassan beheld the
ancient banner of Iran sink before the green ensigns
of his Arabian invaders.
The district of Yezd is, somewhat inconsistently in
a geographical point of view, considered as belonging
to Irak, for it assuredly makes part of Khorasan. It
is an oasis in the vast desert which reaches from the
Elburez to Kerman. The city is built in a large sandy
plain nearly encompassed with hills; but a thinly-
inhabited tract, in which there are several respectable
towns and villages, extends in the direction of Ispahan,
from which it lies due east. In spite of the dryness
of the soil and climate the territory produces good
fruits, silk, and corn, but not enough of the latter to
serve for more than forty days' consumption. Yezd,
with all these disadvantages, is among the most pros-
perous cities in Persia; and this it owes to its com-
merce and manufactures. It is one of the great
entre pots between the east and west. Caravans from
Cabul, Cashmere, Bokhara, Herat, Mushed, Kerman,
are met by merchants from Ispahan, Shirah, Cashan,
Teheran, and an immense interchange of commodities
takes place. On the other hand, its manufactures of
silk and other stuffs, its felts, sugar-candy, and sweet-
meats, command a ready market everywhere. The
population was stated to Captain Christie to be about
50,000 souls, and among them are 3,000 families of
Ghebres or followers of Zoroaster, — an industrious
and patient race, who, in spite of heavy taxation, turn
their attention busily to trade and agriculture.
Kurdistan, which comprehends Assyria proper, and
part of Armenia and Media, has never, properly
Provinces of Persia — Ardelan 77
speaking, been subject to Persia; for, though force or
policy may have attached some chiefs to a particular
prince or dynasty, its warlike tribes have, for the most
part, maintained their independence. The greater por-
tion of the country consists of mountains, sometimes
of great height and utterly barren, but frequently
including fertile tracts of pasture and even of cultivable
land, while they are occasionally sprinkled with oak-
forests, which yield excellent timber and abundance of
gall-nuts. Of those leaders who profess themselves
the tributaries or subjects of the Persian crown, the
Prince of Ardelan is by far the most powerful.
ARDELAN.
The province which bears that name extends in
length about 200 miles, in breadth 160, stretching from
the plain of Hamadan to the small river Sharook.
The country is either composed of hills heaped, as it
were, on each other, or of great table-lands covered
with the flocks and tents of the Eeliauts from June till
the end of August, when they remove to the vicinity
of Bagdad for warmth. The glens are narrow chasms
in the lower parts of the mountains, where the villages
are built in situations to protect them from the inclem-
ency of winter. The town of Senna is a romantic
and flourishing place, secluded in a deep valley rilled
with orchards; and here, in a sumptuous palace built
on a small hill in the center of the town, lives the
wallee in great state, but in a truly patriarchal style.
He is an accomplished, liberal-minded man, hospitable
and beloved. "It was impossible," says Colonel
Macdonald Kinneir, "to contemplate this chief sitting
78 Persia, the Land of the Magi
at the head of his hall, surrounded by his friends and
relations, without calling to mind the Percys and
Douglases of our own country."14
14 This fine old chief received the English envoy and his suite in princely
style: the party was met three miles from the town by his eldest son at the
head of 300 admirably-appointed horsemen; and the wallee himself assured
Sir John Malcolm he would ever consider his visit as an epoch in the annals
of his family.
CHAPTER III.
Account of the Provinces of Persia (Continued).
azerbijan.
AZERBIJAN or Media Atropatena (an appellation
derived from a satrap, Atropatenus, who on the
death of Alexander aspired successfully to sovereign
power), lying now on the frontier of Persia, is of great
importance. It is separated from Armenia on the
north by the Aras; from Irak by the Kizzelozeen;
the Caspian Sea and Ghilan bound it on the north-
east, and Kurdistan on the southeast. Including
Erivan, Karabaug, and Karadaug, it is divided into
twelve districts; and its capital is Tabriz or Tauris,
which was a favorite residence of Haroun al Raschid,
to whose wife its foundation has been attributed. This
province is one of the most productive in the kingdom,
and presents features which differ from those we
have been describing. Its mountains are loftier and
afford better pasture, while its valleys are larger than
those of Fars and Irak. The villages are less ruinous
and are more pleasantly situated. Provisions and
comforts abound, and nothing is wanting but a good
government to render its inhabitants happy.
One of the most interesting objects in Azerbijan is
the great salt lake of Urumeah or Shahee, which,
according to Colonel Macdonald Kinneir, is 300 miles
in circumference. It is surrounded by picturesque
mountains and valleys, some of the latter being fertile
(79)
80 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and well cultivated, and has in its vicinity several cele-
brated towns, among which is Maragha, once the abode
of Hoolaku Khan, who with his wife is supposed to be
interred here. The site of the observatory of Nazir
u Dien, the first astronomer of his day, can be traced
on the top of a hill close to the city. There are also
near it some singular caves, with altars not unlike the
lingam of India. Urumeah, on the other side of the
lake, the Thebarma of Strabo and the birthplace of
Zoroaster, situated in a noble plain, appears well
fortified, and contains about 20,000 souls.
The finest scenery of Azerbijan, which though fer-
tile is divested of wood and verdure, lies on the shores
and mountains of that noble sheet of water. But the
most remarkable fact connected with this lake is its
saltiness. The nature of the salts held in solution
has not been ascertained; but that they are in excess
is certain from the depositions left upon the beach.
In some places a perfect pavement, as it were, of the
solid mineral might be seen under the shallow water
to some distance from the brink; in others an incrus-
tation of the same substance was formed, from beneath
which, when broken, thick concentrated brine gushed
out, and a saline efflorescence, extending in some
places many hundred yards from the edge, encirled
it with a belt of glittering white. The waters, which,
like those of the sea, appear of a dark-blue color
streaked with green, according as the light falls upon
them, are pellucid in the highest degree; but no fish
or living thing is known to exist in them. It is said
they have decreased within the last score of years,
retiring and leaving a barren space of several thousand
feet; and a village is pointed out as once having over-
Provinces of Persia — Azerbijan 81
hung the lake, which is now separated from it by a
muddy strand covered with salt at least a quarter of a
mile broad. The reason of this diminution does not
appear; for, while there is no current outward, it con-
tinues to be fed by a great number of large streams.
To the north of Shahee lie the fine districts of Morand
and Khoi. The latter is particularly fertile and
well cultivated; and a town of the same name, one
of the handsomest of its size in Persia, contains about
30,000 souls. The plain is celebrated as the arena of
a great battle between Shah Ismael and the Ottoman
emperor, Selim the First.
The northeastern division of Azerbijan compre-
hends the district of Khalkhal, Miskeen, and Ardebil.
The first is rough and elevated, lying on the southern
face of the mountains of Ghilan, which, with those of
Talish, are a prolongation of the great Elburz chain.
It affords fine hill-pasture, and presents good valleys
and thriving villages, but is totally devoid of wood.
The second, separated from Khalkhal by the magnifi-
cent range of Savalan, is of a similar character, though
it possesses some noble plains, which, with that of
Ardebil, run into the low land of the Karasu, and with
it sink into the extensive steppe of the Chowul Mogan.
This flat, the encamping-ground of so many Eastern
conquerors, and the scene chosen by Nadir Shah for
the finishing act of the drama that placed the crown
of Persia on his head, still produces rich and luxuriant
herbage, and nourishes the same species of venomous
serpents which arrested the victorious career of Pom-
pey the Great.
Ardebil itself is a wretched place, remarkable, how-
ever, as the family-seat of the royal house of Sooffee,
82 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and for the tombs of Sheik Sooffee and Shah Ismael.
There is also a fort built on the principles of European
science, with regular bastions, ditch, glacis, and draw-
bridges, which is a greater curiosity in Persia than the
mausoleum of a saint. It is said that this stronghold
cost £160,000 sterling.
The approach from Ardebil to Tibriz is picturesque.
From a height above the latter the eye is greeted by a
mass of fine foliage spangled with white dwellings,
forming the gardens which skirt the bank of the stream
that flows past the town. Close under this verdant
scene stands the city, with its old palace and several
domes and minarets rising above the flat mud roofs.
Beyond lies the extensive plain, undulating in the
hot vapors of noon, and terminating in the lake Shahee ;
while remote ranges of lofty mountains bound the
view, or melt into extreme distance.
This city is the seat of government of Abbas Mirza,
the heir of the crown, and is interesting from the
attempts made by that prince to introduce some
improvements into certain branches of the public
service. It enjoys a portion of that prosperity which
the countenance of the sovereign always bestows; its
commerce is good, its bazaars well filled, and its popu-
lation is great, though fluctuating. In the days of
Chardin it boasted of 300 caravansaries, 250 mosques,
and 500,000 inhabitants, — of late the number has been
rated variously, as fifty, eighty, and a hundred thou-
sand; probably when at the fullest it may reach this
last amount. The cold is intense in winter, and the
snow has been known to lie near Tabriz six months
without intermission.
The low tract which stretches along the southern
Provinces of Persia — Azerbijan 83
shore of the Caspian Sea from the plains of Mogan
to Astrabad, and from thence eastward along the foot
of the Elburz, is very different from the more elevated
plateau of Persia; being marshy, covered with forests
which clothe the mountains nearly to their summits,
extremely verdant and fruitful, and though liable to
the disorders which a damp climate and the exhala-
tions of stagnant water are apt to produce, more than
commonly populous. Frequent rains prevail, and the
waters are discharged by a number of streams, which
at times become destructive and impassable torrents.
The ground is for the most part naturally or artifi-
cially flooded more than half the year. A high-road
formed by Shah Abbas, in the usual substantial style
of that monarch's work, is the only one through the
extensive district. It appears to have been fifteen or
sixteen feet wide, and constructed by filling a deep
trench with gravel and small stones,1 over which a
regular causeway was very firmly built. It com-
menced at Kiskar, the western extremity of Ghilan,
and, running through that province, Mazunderan and
Astrabad, ascended a pass leading to Bostam in Khor-
asan, and was carried to a point within forty- five miles
of Mushed. In many places the water lies upon it to
the depth of several feet, but even with this disadvan-
tage the hardness of the bottom renders it preferable
to any other path. As time and want of repair, how-
ever, have interrupted the continuity of this great
thoroughfare, caravans frequently travel along the
beach. The villages differ from those of other prov-
inces, the houses being built in clusters of two or three
in the mighty forest in which they are buried, and
1 Hanway makes it broader; but its present appearance does not bear out
the opinion.
84 Persia, the Land of the Magi
communicating by paths known only to the inhabi-
tants; so that the traveler, while he sees nothing
but a wooden or grass-built hut, like those in the com-
mencement of an American clearing, may be actually
in the midst of a population of one thousand persons,
who would all assemble at a moment's warning. Noth-
ing, indeed, can be imagined more impracticable to an
invading foe than the general nature of the country:
and it is singular that, brave and expert in the use of
their arms as the Ghilanese are, they have opposed so
slight a resistance to the sovereign, and have con-
tributed so essentially to his revenues. The collection
of government dues is not so difficult here as else-
where, and if little goes to the treasury the fault does
not lie with the ryots. But although dense forests
prevail on the shores of the Caspian, the prospect
sometimes opens and displays scenery which, for
beauty and interest, cannot be surpassed in any part
of the world, — large cornfields, divided by excellent
fences and hedges, varied with copsewood, — orchards
and groves, from among which the neat cottages of a
village often peep out, and fine swelling lawns, with
noble park-like trees dotting their green surface or
running up the hill-sides in natural glades. Such are
the views which mingle with the bolder features of
the towering mountains and the swelling bays and blue
waters of that inland sea.
The alpine ranges are inhabited by tribes only
slightly civilized, but who possess some of the virtues
of Highlanders, being true to their chiefs, hospitable,
bold, and active; they are, however, daring robbers,
and do not scruple to shed blood. The natives of
Talish, the northwestern district, who resemble the
Provinces of Persia — Ghilan 85
Lesghees of Shirwan and Daghistan, are particularly
savage and reckless. They are good marksmen, and
maintain a great degree of independence in spite of
the efforts of the Persian government, which, by obtain-
ing hostages, endeavors to hold them in awe.
GHILAN.
The tract we have been describing contains three
provinces, Ghilan, Mazunderan, and Astrabad. The
capital town of the first, anciently the country of the
Ghelas, is Resht, which contains from 60,000 to 80,000
souls, and enjoys a considerable commerce in silk and
other articles. Its bazaars are extensive, clean, and
well kept. They are paved, but, like most others in
Persia, not entirely protected from the weather; and
in them at all times may be seen many foreigners
passing along with an air of business, while a general
hum and bustle prevail which argue a brisk trade.
Enzellee, the shipping port, is inconsiderable, but pos-
sesses an excellent harbor, completely landlocked by a
sandbank in front, and capable of accommodating
many more vessels than ever enter it. The most sin-
gular inconsistency is the want of a road to this place,
which is about twelve miles from Resht. The depot
for goods is at Peeree bazaar, and everything must be
transported on the backs of mules, which frequently
sink up to the belly in the devious tract through the
marshy forest. Ghilan has no other town except
Lahajan, which contains about 15,000 inhabitants;
but there are several stations, called bazaars, where
fairs are held periodically; of these Fomen, Massou-
leh, Kiskar, and Teregoram are the most deserving of
notice.
86 Persia, the Land of the Magi
MAZUNDERAN.
Mazimderan, the ancient Hyrcania, though less val-
uable than Ghilan in point of productions, is more
celebrated. Its three chief towns are Saree, Amol,
and Balfroosh; of which the first is the capital, and
represents the ancient Zadracarta. It bears no marks
of having ever been large; the walls, which are of
mud, with square brick towers, have a circuit of not
more than two miles, and its population, although it
is the residence of a prince and his court, does not
exceed forty thousand souls. It is regularly built,
and the streets, are unpaved and often impassable in
bad weather; the bazaars are miserable huts, having
little appearance of trade. There is a tower about a
hundred feet high, formed of curious brickwork, and
ornamented with belts of Curie inscriptions, from
which it is understood to be the tomb of Hissam u
Dowlut, one of the Dilemee dynasty, who died in the
fifth century of the Hejira.2 This monument, with
one or two other imamzadehs, are doubtless the struc-
tures taken by Hanway for temples of the ancient fire-
worshipers. The ruins of Furrahbad, a royal resi-
dence erected by Shah Abbas, lie at the mouth of the
Tedjen river, which passes Saree, and seventeen miles
distant from that town. They exhibit the remains of
a noble palace with its harem and pleasure- houses, a
fine mosque, and a bazaar. The buildings were con-
structed in a solid style; biit such is the effect of the
moist climate in this province, that they are now all
reduced to heaps of rubbish, or are so overgrown with
weeds that they must soon become so.
2 See Price's Mohammedanism, vol. ii, p. 252, el scq., for an account of the
Dilemites.
Provinces of Persia — Mazunderan 87
The only object of interest at Amol is the mauso-
leum of Seyed Quwam u Dien, a pious sovereign of
Mazunderan, who flourished in the eighth century of
the Hejira. It was erected by Shah Abbas who was
one of his descendants by the female line. The town
contains about as many inhabitants as Saree; but in
the summer they retire to their yeylaks in the moun-
tains.
Balfroosh, the third in order, is by far the most
important and interesting because it affords a proof
unparalleled in Persia of the creative powers of trade.
It exhibits the gratifying spectacle of a city purely
commercial, peopled wholly with merchants, mechan-
ics, and their dependents, who enjoy a great degree
of prosperity and happiness. There is not a khan or
noble in the place ; even the governor is a trader ; and
there is a plain and simple air of ease, plenty, and
comfort, attended with a bustle and show of business,
which resembles the mercantile towns of India rather
than one in the despotic land of Persia. Its popula-
tion has not been ascertained, and it is impossible to
acquire an idea of its extent from what the eye can
comprehend at any one point of view, owing to the
density of the forest. The inhabitants compare it in
size to Ispahan; but the appearance of the bazaars,
and the acknowledged number of houses in the various
divisions, lead to the conclusion that it contains a
population of not less than 200,000. The shipping-
place is Mushed e Sir, at the mouth of the Bawul;
and here, as in all the rivers of Ghilan and Mazunderan,
are caught a great number of sturgeon, which forms
an important article of export to Russia. Salmon
is also occasionally taken.
88 Persia, the Land of the Magi
ASTRABAD.
Astrabad is a small province, divided on the south
from Khorasan by the Elburz Mountains, while on the
north it is bounded by the Caspian Sea and the desert
which stretches to its shores. Its capital, of the same
name, is believed to owe its origin to Yezzid ibn Meh-
loob, an Arab general, who flourished towards the
end of the first century of the Mohammedan era Its
circuit is about three miles and a half; it is defended
by a lofty and thick but ruinous wall; the streets are
generally well paved, and have a drain in the center;
the bazaar is large, but poorly filled; and there are
no public buildings worthy of observation. Wood
being abundant, the houses here, as well as in Mazun-
deran and Ghilan, are often wholly constructed of it,
and thatched with tiles; and this in Astrabad, where
the villages are less buried in the forest, though still
mingled with trees, produces a pleasing effect, totally
opposed to the monotonous appearance of the mud
hovels of Upper Persia. Many of the better edifices
have baudgeers or wind-towers, to cool the apartments
during the heats of summer.
About sixty miles west of Astrabad lies Ashruff,
the favorite residence of Shah Abbas.
The eastern part of Astrabad, now called Gourgan,
the Jorjan of some authors, but undoubtedly connected
with the ancient name Hyrcania, is a plain, partly
wooded and partly covered with the finest pasture,
and watered by a river of its own name, as well as by
the Attruck and many lesser streams. Vestiges of
former population are thickly spread over its surface;
but the Turkomans first ravaged, and then occupied it
as a grazing-ground for their flocks and herds.
Provinces of Persia — Khorasan 89
An ancient tower, called Goombuz e Caoos, stands
on a little hillock, probably artificial, in the wide plain,
and is seen from an immense distance. It is of exquisite
brickwork, and, except at the bottom, where a mis-
chievous attempt has been made to demolish it, it is
in as perfect a condition as when first built. The walls
are ten feet thick, and the height is about 150. It is
hollow; the cavity being undivided to the very top,
where a single window in the conical roof gives light
to the whole. Its origin is obvious ; for it is inscribed
with two belts of Arabic characters, though now so
much defaced as not to be legible ; and it stands among
green mounds, said to be the ruins of Jorjan.
KHORASAN.
The extent of Khorasan, like that of the emperor, of
which it forms the eastern frontier, has varied with
political events ; being held by some as comprehending
all from Irak to the Oxus and the Indus, including not
only Bactriana and part of Sogdiana, but also the whole
of Afghanistan. We shall consider it as terminating
on the north and east in the line already laid down as
the general boundary of the empire. Unlike the rest
of that country, in physical as well as political charac-
teristics, this vast province, in former times the seat
of a great empire, rich in men and cultivation, presents
at this day an endless succession of barren plains,
thinly inhabited, and separated by mountains; while
the whole country is governed by petty chiefs, who by
turns defy and conciliate the ruling power of Persia.
The only district yielding implicit obedience is that
which occupies the skirts of the Elburz Mountains
90 Persia, the Land of the Magi
from the boundary of Irak to Mushed, including the
cities of Semnoon, Damghan, Bostam, Subzawar,
Nishapour, and their dependencies, some of which are
fertile and well cultivated. The last-mentioned place,
of old one of the most important in the empire, founded
by Shapoor Zooloctaf, was the center of a territory
which contained 14,000 villages, and was watered by
12,000 cannauts or subterranean canals, besides nat-
ural streams. Ever the object of plunder, and often
destroyed, it always rose from its ashes, till, at length,
totally depopulated in the last Afghan invasion, it
remained till lately a heap of ruins. In 1821 it could
scarcely boast of 5,000 inhabitants; though the multi-
tude of ruined villages, and the innumerable lines of
abandoned cannauts, justified the accounts of its
former prosperity, and told an impressive tale of mis-
fortune and oppression.
Mushed, the capital of Persian Khorasan, rose out
of the decay of the ancient Toos, the ruins of which
lie but seventeen miles distant. The plan of the city
is by some attributed to the Emperor Humaioon, while
he was a guest of Shah Tamasp; but its greatness is
undoubtedly owing to the resort of pilgrims to the tomb
of Imam Reza. Nadir Shah bestowed upon it much
of his dangerous favor, and enriched the shrine with
a bounty which still gilds its remains. Though con-
taining scarcely 100,000 souls, it has numerous mosques
and mollahs; and they reckon sixteen madressas, some
of which are really magnificent, while others are
degraded into stables and cattle-pens.
The shrine and its appendages occupy a position
in the center of the principal street, — a fine broad ave-
nue, having in the middle a canal, once shaded with
Provinces of Persia — Khorasan 91
trees. The entry to this holy place is by a quadrangle,
called the Sahn, 160 yards long by seventy-five broad;
it is paved with gravestones, for all the noble and pious
of the land are desirous of burial within its precincts.
It is surrounded with a double row of arched niches,
all superbly ornamented with lacquered tiles, and at
either end stands a lofty gateway embellished in the
same fashion, which is probably the most perfect speci-
men of the kind in the world. Neither Jew nor Chris-
tian is permitted to intrude into this magnificent square
under pain of death. From the side of the Sahn
a gilded archway admits the pilgrim to the mausoleum,
the exact form of which it is not possible to ascertain,
on account of the meaner buildings that surround it.
A silver gate, the gift of Nadir Shah, opens into the
chief apartment, which rises like the center nave of a
cathedral into a noble dome, and branches out in the
form of a cross. The whole is adorned with tiles of the
richest colors, profuse of azure and gold, disposed in
the most tasteful devices, while from the center depends
a large branched candlestick of solid silver. The
dome is covered with gilded tiles; and from two points,
— one near the shrine and one on the opposite side
of the Sahn, — rise two lofty minarets, the lowest
parts of which are cased with an azure coating, while
the upper parts and the galleries round the top are
richly gilt,— assuredly the most beautiful things of this
description in the whole empire. A doorway, in the
left arch to the northwest, leads into another apart-
ment, richly decorated and surmounted with a dome,
under which repose the remains of Imam Reza and of
the celebrated Haroun al Raschid. The shrine is
encircled by a railing of wrought steel, inside of which
92 Persia, the Land of the Magi
is an incomplete one of solid gold, and many other glit-
tering objects. It would be endless to detail the splen-
dor of the various parts of this mausoleum as dimly
seen by the light of lamp and taper. Combined with
the reverential silence, only interrupted by the deep
intonations of Arabic prayers or recitations from the
Koran, and with the solemn mummery of the mollahs,
it is quite enough to impress with unmingled awe the
ignorant pilgrims who flock thither for the purposes
of devotion.
Another passage leads through the mausoleums into
a court belonging to a mosque of the greatest beauty,
founded by the wife of Shah Rokh, the grandson of
Timur. The screen, in which is placed the chief arch-
way, the dome, and minarets, are all tastefully adorned
with the usual material of colored tiles.
The government of Mushed, which is placed in the
hands of one of the king's sons, under the superin-
tendence of an able minister, extends its authority but
a little way to the north or south. The country between
the line we have formerly indicated and the desert
to the north is chiefly occupied by a colony of Kurds,
transported by Shah Abbas from the Turkish frontier
to that of Persian Khorasan, bordering on the Uzbeck
states. These people have multiplied, and form three
distinct states, each under its own chief, who all
maintain the manners of their forefathers, together
with their rude independence, paying no tribute unless
when it is demanded at the head of an army. The
most powerful of them resides at Khabooshan, about
nine miles west-northwest of Mushed, and is dignified
with the title of Eelkhanee or Lord of the Eeliauts.
In this quarter is situated the celebrated fortress of
Provinces of Persia — Khorasan 93
Kelaat Nadiree, which is a valley from fifty to sixty
miles long by twelve or fifteen in breadth, surrounded
by mountains so steep that a little assistance from
art has rendered them quite impassable, the rocks
being scarped outside into the form of a gigantic wall.
A stream runs through this hollow; and its entrance
and outlet, the only points of access, are fortified
by walls and towers which are deemed impregnable.
It contains twenty or thirty villages, two thousand
families, and presents an extended cultivation. In
1822, this stronghold was possessed by a chief named
Seyed Mohammed, who, like others, had declared him-
self independent.
The famous city of Meru, often the seat of empire
and the abode of luxury, but now a mass of ruins, is
not within the limits assigned to Persia, being nearly
equidistant from Mushed and Bokhara— an oasis in
the desert — yet it is impossible to pass it unmentioned.
A petty chief maintains the place for the sovereign
of Bokhara, and hordes of Turkomans encamp round
the walls. Its glory has passed away, and even the
site of the tomb of Alp Arslan is unknown.
To the south of Mushed, in a well-cultivated dis-
trict, is Toorbut, the residence of the powerful ruler
of the Karaooea tribe, who occasionally assist, but
more frequently overawes the imbecile government;
and, in concert with other predatory leaders, lays
caravans under contribution at discreton. The town
contains from 30,000 to 40,000 souls, and enjoys
a considerable transit trade, being on the high road
from India to the principal cities of Persia.
Herat, the imperial seat of the descendants of Timur,
is situated in a well-watered valley, thirty miles in
94 Persia, the Land of the Magi
length and fifteen in breadth, the whole of which is
covered with villages and gardens. The former splen-
dor of this great capital3 has for the most part passed
away. The present city, according to Captain Christie,
occupies an area of about four miles, and is surrounded
by a lofty mud wall and wet ditch, with drawbridges
and outworks. From the Charsu, a large square in its
center, proceed bazaars at right angles to the four
respective gates, the principal one being covered with
a vaulted roof, and these on market-days are scarcely
passable for the crowd. Among the numerous public
buildings the Musjed e Jumah stands conspicuous, with
its domes and minarets, once ornamented superbly,
but now going to deca)^, though it still covers, with its
reservoirs, courts, and arcades, an area of 800 yards
square. The private dwellings are in good order, the
population is dense, and the commerce thriving.
After many vicissitudes, Herat, in 1749, fell into
the hands of Ahmed Shah Abdallee, and has since
remained attached to the crown of Cabul. But in the
late revolutions, the city and its dependencies were
seized by the Vizier Futeh Khan and his brothers,
who in their turn were dispossessed ; and it then became
the retreat of the nominal monarch Mahmoud Shah.
It has of late been held by him and his son Camran
Mirza, who, though they raise large sums by an oppres-
sive government, pay to Persia a very small annual
tribute.
Our information regarding Kerman, Seistan, Mek-
ran, and Beloochistan (which is sometimes considered
as a part of Mekran) is derived from Captains Grant
and Christie, and Lieutenant Pottinger, who, in 1810,
* For an elaborate description of Herat in its glory, see Major Price's Retro-
spect of Mohammedanism, vol. iii, p. 640.
Provinces of Persia — Kerman 95
volunteered to explore these extensive regions, and, at
extreme personal hazard, traversed them in three sev-
eral directions. The first of these officers having
landed at Gwuttur, made his way to Bunpore, and
thence regaining the coast, marched along the shore,
visiting every town and village as far as Bunder Abbas.
The two others, having debarked at Somneanee, a little
westward of the mouths of the Indus, traveled to Kelat,
the chief town of Beloochistan; and from thence to
Nooschee, a small village on the borders of the Great
Desert. There they separated; and the former,
taking a northern course, proceeded through the heart
of Seistan to Herat, and thence by Yezd to Ispahan.
The latter pursued a southwestern direction to Bun-
pore, where, turning to the northwest, he passed
through the remainder of Mekran to Kerman and
Shiraz. Thus a somewhat accurate idea has been
obtained of this vast and savage region; and only
those who have traveled among a people utterly reck-
less of human life, and through countries where the
extremities of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, increase
the horrors of the desert, can appreciate the toils of
those resolute individuals who have thus added to our
store of information.
KERMAN.
Kerman, the ancient Caramania, has Seistan and
Khorasan on the north; Mekran and the Gulf on the
south; with Laristan, Fars, and Irak on the west.
According to Pottinger, it is exceedingly mountainous
and barren. "There is not," observes he, "a river
in the province; and were it not for a few springs in
96 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the mountainous districts, and the kahrezes or (sub-
terranean) aqueducts, the natives could not possibly
exist. As it is, water is procured with extraordinary
pains, and withal is not more than sufficient to cultivate
a very trifling portion of the soil ;" and all this, although
snow lies on the mountain-tops for the greater part
of the year. Kerman is generally divided into the
desert and habitable regions. The former is so impreg-
nated with salt that sometimes not a blade of grass
is to be found in a stretch of ninety miles; and there
is no water. Whole armies have perished in this fright-
ful waste; and so great is the danger, even to those
acquainted with the routes, that a courier demanded
a sum of 200 rupees, — a little fortune in such a place, —
for carrying a letter from Kerman to Herat. In the
whole tract there is but one green spot, where was
built the town of Khubbees, in order to facilitate the
trade between the northern and southern provinces.
But the place has gone to decay; and its inhabitants
have become robbers, subsisting on the plunder of
those whom it was intended they should protect. The
most fertile portion of the habitable division of Kerman
is Noormanshir, which is about ninety miles long by
thirty wide; where the soil, consisting of a rich black
mould watered by mountain-streams, yields an abun-
dant produce, sufficient for a population far more
dense than exists in any other part of the province.
On the coast there are considerable date-plantations;
nor is there any great deficiency of forage and water.
The capital is in the center of a large and well-culti-
vated plain; and Sheher e Babec, the ruins of a once
splendid town, lies cradled amid a profusion of the
most prolific fruit-gardens in Persia.
Provinces of Persia — Kerman 97
Kerman, a city of great antiquity, was one of the
most flourishing in the empire. Situated on the direct
road from most of the large towns of the north, to
Ormuz, and afterward to Bunder Abbas, the great
emporiums of Oriental trade, it enjoyed a lucrative
commerce. But its riches rendered it a tempting object
of plunder; and of the many conquerors and tyrants
who have infested Persia, there is scarcely one at
whose hands it has not suffered. In the struggles
between the Zund and Kujur families, after being
bravely defended by Lootf Al^ Khan Zund, the last
of the line, it was basely betrayed into the hands of
Aba Mohammed Khan, by whom its male inhabitants
were slaughtered or horribly mutilated, — its women
and children given over to the most revolting slavery, —
its buildings and fortifications destroyed. To com-
memorate this final blow to the fortunes of his adver-
sary, the victor resolved to erect a trophy worthy of
the event. Selecting from his captives 900 men, he
decapitated 600, and forced the survivors to carry the
gory heads of their comrades to an appointed place,
where they also underwent the same fate; and the
whole were piled into a pyramid of skulls, which
remained when Pottinger visited the spot.
Having been rebuilt, though on a reduced scale, it is
now the residence of a prince of the blood and governor
of the province. Its population amounts to 30,000
souls; the bazaars are handsome and well filled, and
trade, which is reviving, might, but for the evil genius
of tyranny, become once more considerable. The
wool of Kerman is celebrated for its fineness; and
its manufactures of shawls, felts, and matchlocks are
in request all over Persia. But its prosperity was so
98 Persia, the Land of the Magi
dependent on Gombroon that it can never again be
what it once was. Of the latter, also called Bunder
Abbas, once a proud child of commerce, the site is
now occupied by a collection of miserable huts, inhab-
ited by 3,000 or 4,000 Arabs. The ruins of the former
town and fort, as well as those of the English and
Dutch factories, are still conspicuous.4 Parcels of
sulphur and red ochre, articles of trade in those days,
may yet be seen strewed about the banks of a small
creek which formed the shipping-place; and European
coins and trinkets are often found by the natives. A
group of domes, obelisks, and pillars marks the spot
where those of our countrymen who breathed their
last on this inhospitable shore rest from their labors,
far from their brethren and their homes ; and the impres-
sive silence of the scene, with its traces of departed
greatness, withered hopes, and disappointed ambition,
suggests solemn thoughts to the reflective mind.
SEISTAN.
The small province of Seistan, also called Neem-
roze, and comprehending the country of the ancient
Sarangeans, has Khorasan on the north and northwest ;
Candahar on the east; Mekran and Kerman on the
south and southwest. It is a desert of sand and rocks,
through which one fine river, the Heermund, holds
its course, producing a strip of rich land, about two
miles broad, on either side of which rise perpendicular
cliffs. It affords fine pasture, is partly cultivated,
and numerous ruins denote its former prosperity.
Dooshakh or Jellalabud, the present capital, — prob-
ably the Zaranga of Ptolemy,— is a small place rebuilt
4 The present Arab fort is built on the site of the Dutch factory.
Provinces of Persia — Mekran 99
among the remains of a city which covers as much
ground as Ispahan. The houses, formed of half-burned
bricks, are two stories high, and have vaulted roofs.
Between Rodhar, where Captain Christie entered
Seistan, and Dooshakh, many decayed windmills were
observed. The Heermund, after running through
the province in a stream from 200 to 400 yards broad,
is lost in the Lake Zerrah, — a shallow sheet of water,
which in the dry season is covered with reeds and
rushes. It is full of fish and wild-fowl, and in it is a
high island on which was a fortified town, Kookhozied,
the depository in dangerous times of the treasures of
the principal families of the province.
Seistan is now scantily peopled by tribes of Afghans
and Belooches, who wander from place to place, pitch-
ing their tents among the ruins of ancient palaces, and
are at once shepherds and robbers. Their chiefs live
in fortified villages on the banks of the Heermund, and
employ themselves in constant forays. The nominal
ruler, when Captain Christie made his visit, was
Baharam Khan Kyanee; but his revenue did not
exceed 30,000 rupees a year, nor was his authority
sufficient to restrain the depredations of Khan Juban
Khan, an enterprising man who lived at Illumdar close
to Jellalabad, and laid all the country under contri-
bution. Such is now the condition of that province
which produced the heroes of the Shah Nameh, — of
Zal and Roostum, — and of the many other celebrated
worthies of less questionable existence.
MEKRAN.
The large but barren and inhospitable province of
Mekran, — the ancient Gedrosia, — which extends from
100 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the mouths of the Indus to Cape Jask, exhibits every
variety of desert, in hill, rock, or plain, intermingled
with some tract where a river or brook enables the
thinly-scattered inhabitants to raise a small supply of
food, and to find pasture for their flocks and herds.
A long range of mountains running east and west
separates this province into two parts. The southern
portion retains the name of Mekran; the northern
has acquired that of Beloochistan, though it might more
properly be regarded as forming another province.
Mekran and Beloochistan, as well as Seistan, are
peopled by a variety of tribes, whose chiefs are more or
less independent. Of these clans the Belooches are by
far the most numerous, and, according to Pottinger.
consist of two distinct classes, the Belooches and the
Brahooes. The first, who speak a language resem-
bling modern Persian, are divided into three principal
sections, and these again are minutely subdivided. The
men are middle-sized, spare yet muscular, bold and
robust, but savage and predatory; and though they are
heard to boast of bloodshed, plunder, and devastation
committed in the chappows, they nevertheless despise
pilfering, — are hospitable, true to their word, and not
devoid of generosity. They live in ghedans or tents
formed of black felt stretched over a frame of tama-
risk branches. From ten to thirty of these constitute
a toomun or village, and its inhabitants a kheil or
society, which is usually named after some person
or fanciful attribute, — as Daoodee Kheil, David's So-
ciety; Urneree Kheil, the Noble Society; and so on.
The people are indolent but inquisitive, temperate and
sober; restricting themselves commonly to two wives,
and even their chiefs being content with four. They
-
p H
n ?d
Provinces of Persia — Merkan 101
treat their women with respect, and do not confine them
so rigidly as other Mahommedans. The captives taken
in the chappows are made slaves, who after being do-
mesticated are used with kindness, and speedily be-
come reconciled to their fate. "Why should they wish
to leave us!" replied the Sirdar or chief of Nooskee
to Captain Christie, who had inquired how they were
prevented from escaping; "they are well fed and
clothed, and treated like the other members of my
family, — they want for nothing. Come what will,
they get a share of what I have; and they know that
the more they work the better we shall all fare. They
have no cares ; now, at home they would have to think
of house, and food, and clothes, and might possibly
starve after all. No, no; the worst punishment we
can inflict on a refractory fellow is to turn him about
his business."
The Brahooes, like their neighbors, are divided into
an infinity of tribes and kheils, and are still more
addicted to the wandering and pastoral life. They
inhabit the mountains which bound Beloochistan to
the east, and in winter often come down to the plains
of Cutch Gundava. They surpass the Belooches in
hardihood, are more frugal and industrious, better
farmers, quieter and less prone to rapine, not so avari-
cious, revengeful, or cruel. They are faithful, grateful,
hospitable; and their courage being acknowledged,
they are seldom molested. They are shorter and
stouter, have round faces, flatter features, and their
hair and beards, instead of being black, are not unfre-
quently brown. They are very voracious, and live
much upon animal food. They pay a far greater
degree of deference to their chiefs; but in most other
102 Persia, the Land of the Magi
respects their manners and customs resemble the
Belooches. Lieutenant Pottinger leans to an opinion
that these last derive their origin from a residue of
the Seljuk Turkomans, driven by the tide of conquest
into this remote quarter; while the Brahooes might
lay claim to an earlier possession of their mountain
homes. But we may observe, that there is in many
particulars an analogy between the Belooche tribes
and those of more settled habits in Persia; while the
Brahooes may be supposed to represent the Eeliauts.
The distinguishing difference between the population
of the two countries is, that in Beloochistan there is
no class of fixed inhabitants like the citizens of Persia ;
for the Dehwars5 or villagers, found in Kelat and some
neighboring districts, are too few and too small to be
taken into account. The intractable nature of the soil,
and the predatory character of its possessors, account
for the deficiency; and the continued residence of
Hindoo merchants, in almost every village of impor-
tance, serves rather as a proof of their devotion to
gain, than of the protection they receive, or the en-
couragement afforded to commerce and civilization.
The first part of this province visited by Messrs.
Christie and Pottinger was the small state of Lus,
supposed by Macdonald Kinneir to be the country of
the Oritae of Arrian. It is a sandy plain hemmed in by
lofty mountains, and producing abundant crops. From
its chief, Jam Mohammed Khan, who resides at Bela
(a poor town of 1,500 houses), the travelers received
much kindness, although they appeared in the humble
• Lieutenant Pottinger thinks this class may probably be descendants of
the Ghebres, but they rather resemble the Taujucks of Cabul; they are a
mild agricultural people, and occupy lands free of rent, in consideration of
services which they are bound to render to the Khan of Kelat.
Provinces of Persia — Mekran 103
character of agents to a Hindoo merchant, for the pur-
chase of horses. He did all in his power to facilitate
their progress to Kelat; and to obviate the dangers of
the enterprise, consigned them to the charge of Ruh-
mul Khan, a chief of the Bezunga Belooches. But
that ruffian did not fail to take advantage of their
necessities, and even to menace their personal safety.
At one moment the wild freebooter swore by his
beard, that had they entered his country without
leave he would cut them in pieces, and in the next
breath he invited them to pass a week at his village.
When they remarked, that they had hoped, as inoffen-
sive travelers, to pass unmolested through his terri-
tories, he replied with a grim laugh, "How could you
dream of such a thing? not even a hare can enter
Ruhmul Khan's country against his will — but you now
have his word for your safety, and need fear nothing
mortal — for the rest we are all in the hands of God!"
In the districts through which they passed, his follow-
ers took whatever they wanted, while the terrified
owners looked on, not daring even to remonstrate.
A march of nearly 300 miles carried the party to
Kelat. Their way lay through a succession of moun-
tain-passes, barren plains, river-courses full of jungle,
and occasional toomuns or towns belonging to chiefs
nominally subject to the khan, but all of them exer-
cising an independent authority. Meer Mohammed
Khan Kumburanee, the hereditary descendant of six
successive rulers, the first of whom had snatched the
sovereign power from a Hindoo rajah, was the chief
of Kelat when Lieutenant Pottinger reached that
place; and his dominions embraced the large districts
of Jhalewan and Sarewan, Cutch Gundava, Zuchree,
104 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and some others of less importance. But this easy
and unsteady character was unfitted to the vigorous
maintenance of power. His revenues did not exceed
350,000 rupees, though his troops nominally amounted
to about 30,000 men. The two first districts present
to view a mass of tremendous mountains, intersected
by plains which, in spite of their forbidding appear-
ance, produce abundance of wheat, barley, and other
grains. The territory of Cutch Gundava, again, em-
braces a flat 150 miles long and forty or fifty miles in
breadth, consisting of a rich black mould, which
affords valuable crops of indigo, madder, cotton, and
all sorts of grain; but the blessing of soil and moisture
is counterbalanced by the occasional prevalence of the
pestilential simoom, which proves fatal to many of the
inhabitants. Kelat contains about 7,000 souls, of
whom 500 are Hindoos. Its bazaar is well supplied,
and it enjoys a considerable trade.
After a vexatious delay the travelers quitted that
place, and performing a journey of seventy-nine miles
in a northwesterly course, through a barren mountain-
ous country, reached Nooskee, where they separated, —
Captain Christie proceeding, as has been already men-
tioned, to Herat. Nooskee, which is a small sandy
tract, about thirty-six miles square, watered by the
Kysur, lies at the foot of the Kelat Mountains. It
overlooks the great desert, which stretches like an
ocean to the west and northwest for several hundred
miles, embracing the oasis of Seistan, and overspread-
ing with hopeless barrenness the greater part of Ker-
man and Khorasan. In its toomun, composed of the
usual ghedans, resided Eidel Khan, the Sirdar, who,
when the travelers took up their quarters in his Meh-
A great god is Auramazrla, who created this earth, who created yonder
heaven, who created man, who created Peace for man, who made Darius
king. — Old Persian Inscription.
From a Painting by Joy Hambidge.
King Darius Offers Sacrifice Unto Ormazd.
The king with his army has ridden across from the palace at Persepolis,
six miles distant. The groom Oibares holds his favorite horse. The soldiers
stand in an attitude of devotion while the king proclaims his faith and offers
worship to the god to whom he ascribes all good.
Provinces of Persia — Mckran 105
man Knaneh, or Guest Chamber, and threw them-
selves on his hospitality, received them with kindness.
He did not, however, on that account, think himself
bound to abstain from the attempt to turn their neces-
sities to his own advantage; nor was it without con-
siderable cost, as well as difficulty, that Lieutenant
Pottinger at length was permitted to enter upon his
arduous journey across the desert to Bunpore. The
fatigues and dangers he underwent for upwards of
three weeks were such as few could have supported.
During these days the party had to travel sixty-eight
miles across a waste of red impalpable sand raised by
the wind into huge waves, like those of a tempestuous
sea, over which the camels could only climb with ex-
treme toil, slipping down the abrupt sides as the crests
of running sand broke under them, while the riders
were forced to pursue their painful course on foot.
During the heat of noon, their distress was increased
by clouds of dust that floated in the air, without wind
or any perceptible cause, and which, entering the
mouth and nostrils, parched the throat and tongue,
exciting an oppressive sense of suffocation, and in-
creasing to excess the miseries of constant thirst.
This tedious journey brought Lieutenant Pottinger
to a district divided among petty chiefs, where he
traveled sometimes as the agent of a Hindoo merchant,
sometimes as a hajji or pilgrim; while at other times
circumstances induced him to avow his European con-
nections. By the chief of Bunpore, a fort containing
about 100 wretched habitations, and situated in an
extensive plain indifferently cultivated, he was treated
with great hospitality, and compelled to make presents
which he could ill spare; on the other hand, the ruler
106 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
of Basmin, in the same neighborhood, though master
of but a petty hold and small territory, rendered him
all possible assistance.
Another journey of 170 miles, — painful from the
utter want of water, and perilous on account of fero-
cious banditti, carried Mr. Pottinger to Noormanshir
in Kerman, whence he made his way to the capital of
the province. The deserts traversed between the lat-
ter place and Nooskee, like others in these countries,
at all times perilous, are in the hotter months fre-
quently visited by blasts of the simoom, which crack
and shrivel up the skin and flesh, occasioning all the
agony of scorching; while, from the gaping rents, the
dark and distempered blood pours out in quantities
that soon occasion death. In some cases life seems at
once dried up, while the corpse, changed to a putrid
mass, separates limb from limb on being touched. The
only method of avoiding the pestilential vapor, the
approach of which cannot always be foreseen, is to fall
upon the earth, covering the body with whatever gar-
ments may be at hand till the blast pass by. The
Sahrab, or Water of the Desert, is another phenome-
non of the wastes equally well known, and most pain-
ful from the disappointment it occasions ; for it usually
appears in low spots, where water might reasonably
be expected, and so perfect is the deception, that
mountains and rocks are reflected in the fallacious
fluid as in a real lake.
Mekran proper is mountainous and barren, contain-
ing, like Beloochistan, some tracts less arid than the
desert around them, which yield a little grain and pas-
ture. The coast in some places produces dates and
corn; but it is so hot, that in summer the inhabitants
scarce venture out of their huts, and the fiery wind
Provinces of Persia — Mekran 107
scorches all vegetable life. Of the numerous torrents
which furrow the mountains, and tear up the plains
in the winter, or rainy season, not one retains a drop
of water in summer; and their beds are usually
thickets of babul-trees, tamarisk, and other shrubs.
No country can be imagined more ungenial and for-
bidding; and the natives are a puny, unsightly, and
unhealthy race, — dissipated and sensual, addicted, both
men and women, to every vice and excess, including
that of habitual drunkenness. They are all robbers
and plunderers, utterly devoid of compassion and reck-
less of human blood ; and those who occupy the moun-
tains bordering on Beloochistan are yet more ferocious
and treacherous than their neighbors, without any of
their redeeming qualities. The province is divided
into districts, each governed by some petty chief;
for, though the Khan of Kelat is nominal sovereign
of the whole country, he has no real power in its
southern quarters.
This extensive region possesses a great variety of
climate. The coast of Mekran and the sandy deserts
suffer the utmost degree of heat ; and the snow, which
perpetually covers the peaks of its northern mountains,
betokens the extreme of an opposite temperature. In
many parts the cold is excessive; and heavy falls of
snow and sleet often endanger the safety of travelers.
But many of the mountainous districts of Beloochistan
may boast of atmosphere little, if at all, inferior to
that of Europe. The heat is never too great, and the
seasons follow each other in regular succession. Crops
ripen early, and for the most part securely; so that, in
spite of its forbidding aspect, it might, under a well-
regulated government, be a happy and contented, if
not a rich and powerful, country.
CHAPTER IV.
Antiquities of Persia.
THE antiquities of a country are so closely con-
nected with its early annals and religion, that,
here we shall give a short description of the most
remarkable remains in Persia. Few celebrated em-
pires are so poor in monuments of ancient greatness;
and the deficiency is the more extraordinary as all that
survive are so solid as in a great measure to bid defi-
ance not only to age but even to the more destructive
hand of man, and at the same time so magnificent as
to convey a high idea of the taste and skill of those
who constructed them. The antiquities of Persia may
be divided into two classes referring to different
periods: those antecedent to the conquest of Alexan-
der, and those belonging to the era of the Sassanides.
There are few connected with the early Arabian con-
querors; but these have been mentioned in treating
of the provinces where they occur.
PERSEPOLiS.
Of the first class, by far the most interesting and
extensive are the ruins of Persepolis, termed by the
natives the Tucht e Jumsheed, or Chehel Minar, — a
fabric which for ages has excited the admiration and
employed the descriptive talents of travelers, while it
has afforded matter of vain though curious speculation
to the learned. Nothing can be more striking than
(108)
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Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis 109
the appearance of these ruins on approaching them
from the southwest. Placed at the base of a rugged
mountain, on a terrace of mason work that might vie
with the structures of Egypt, it overlooks an immense
plain, enclosed on all sides by distant but dark cliffs,
and watered by the Kour Ab, which once supplied
1,000 aqueducts. But the watercourses are choked
up; the plain is a morass or a wilderness; for the
great city, which once poured its population over the
wide expanse of Merdusht, has disappeared, and the
gray columns rise in solitary grandeur, to remind us
that mighty deeds were done in the days of old.
The terrace on which these architectural remains
repose is of an irregular form. The west front, which
overlooks the plain, is 1,425 feet long; the northern
is 926 feet, and the southern 802; the height appears
to have varied from twenty-five to fifty feet, according
to the inequalities of the ground. The surface has
become very uneven (if indeed it ever was otherwise)
by the drifting dust and the fallen fragments. The
only ascent to this platform is on its western side,
by a magnificent staircase, formed of two double
flights of steps. Of these the lowest, consisting each
of fifty-five,1 twenty-two feet long, and three inches
and a half deep, meet in a landing-place of thirty-
seven feet by forty-four. From this point springs a
second double flight of forty-eight steps of similar
dimensions, which terminate on the level of the
platform, in a second landing-place sixty-four feet
1 Niebuhr says fifty-seven in the lower and forty-seven in the upper flights,
each four inches high. He adds, that the height together is thirty-three feet;
but his own data would give thirty-four feet eight inches.
110 Persia, the Land of the Magi
long.2 The ascent is so gradual, that travelers usually
ride up on horseback; and the blocks of marble are
so large, that from ten to fourteen steps are cut out
of each.3
Having reached this landing-place, the stranger
beholds a gigantic portal formed of two massive walls,
with the front and interior faces sculptured into the
resemblance of colossal animals. The length of it is
twenty-one feet, its height thirty, and the walls are
twelve4 feet apart, the groundway being paved with
slabs of polished marble. The animals stand on a
pedestal, which elevates them fifty feet. Their heads
are so mutilated that it is impossible to say what they
were meant to represent;5 their necks are decorated
with collars of roses; short curled hair covers the
chest, back, and ribs; and the workmanship is singu-
larly correct and delicate.
Twenty feet eastward from this portal stood four
handsome fluted columns with beautiful capitals, about
forty-five feet high and twenty-two feet apart; but
only two remain, and not a relic of the others is to
be seen. Another space intervenes between these
columns and a second portal, resembling the first, save
that the walls are only eighteen feet long, while the
i Niebuhr says he saw holes in the large stones of the landing-place, as if
for gates; and conceives that the whole platform may have been under lock
and key: in which case there must have been parapet walls to the terrace;
but there seems little ground for thinking so.
• It is remarkable how slight are the marks these steps bear of being fre-
quented; they are scarcely worn at all; and the reverse must have been the
case had the place been long the resort of worshipers (if a temple), or even
of the crowds which throng the gateway of a royal residence.
4 Niebuhr says thirteen, and remarks that the space is small for so splendid
a fabric.
1 Sir R. K. Porter calls them bulls. Probably they were figures of the same
animal that appears in various parts of the ruins, particularly in the capital
of some of the columns and which resembles a unicorn fully as much as a bull.
Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis 111
figures on the eastern side appear to have had human
faces adorned with diadems; their beards are still
visible, and wings, of which the huge plumage is
exquisitely cut, extend high above their backs.
There is an interval of one hundred and sixty-two
feet between the right of these portals and the terrace
which supports the groups of columns, — the most
striking part of the ruins. In this space there is a
cistern sixteen feet by eighteen, hewn out of the solid
rock. A double staircase leads to the terrace, the
whole length of which is two hundred and twelve feet,
each flight projecting considerably beyond its northern
face. At each extremity, east and west, rises a range
of steps, and again, about the middle, projecting
eighteen feet, are two smaller flights; the extent of
the whole is eighty-six feet, including twenty of a
landing-place. Like that of the great entrance, the
ascent is extremely gradual, each step being fourteen
inches broad by sixteen feet long, and four inches
deep. The front is covered with sculptures so thickly
as at first to bewilder the eye. These figures, which
are disposed in groups to suit the compartments of
the staircase, are variously habited and employed.
Some resemble royal guards and attendants, clothed
in long robes, with brogue-like buskins and fluted
shields; others are placed in long rows, and appear
to represent a procession of many nations, being dif-
ferently dressed and appointed. They bear gifts or
offerings, and lead animals of divers sorts. There is
also represented in sculpture a fight between a lion
and a bull, or, as some think, a unicorn, — at all events,
an animal like the mutilated figure at the portal. But
a description of this superb display of bas-reliefs would
112 Persia, the Land of the Magi
be tedious, and scarcely intelligible without elaborate
drawings.6
Sir Robert Ker Porter supposes these magnificent
works of art were designed to perpetuate the memory
of the grand religious procession of Cyrus the Great
described by Xenophon, or probably that of Darius,
at the festival of the No Roz or vernal equinox, receiv-
ing presents from the numerous nations of his empire.
But we hasten to the more stupendous portion of
these ruins, — the magnificent colonnade which occupies
the terrace. And assuredly the imagination cannot
picture a sight more imposing than these vast, solitary,
mutilated pillars, which, founded in an age beyond
the reach of tradition, have witnessed the lapse of
countless generations, and seen dynasties and empires
rise, flourish, and decay, while they still rear their
gray heads unchanged.
From the terrace, which measures from east to west
380 feet, and from north to south 350, once rose four
divisions of columns, consisting of a central group of
thirty-six, flanked on either side as well as in front by
two rows of six each, forming an aggregate of sev-
enty-two7 in all. Of the advanced division, the site
of which is twenty feet from the landing-place, only
one is standing. Between these and the first row of
the center pillars are seen large blocks of stone, sup-
posed by Morier to have formed pedestals for figures,
but which Niebuhr considers as marking the walls of
• Such plates, and a minute account of every figure, may be found in the
Travels of Sir R. K. Porter.
' This computation and plan agree with those of Niebuhr, Kffimpfer, and
Le Brun, and of Morier more recently, and is undoubtedly correct, but Le
Brun, speaking of the total number of columns on the great terrace, estimates
them at 205. Sir Thomas Herbert, Thevenot, and Chardin, increase the
amount of those in the grand colonnade, though it does not appear upon
what grounds.
Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis 113
a portal. About thirty-eight feet from the western
edge of the terrace (which is the same as that of the
principal platform) arose the double row of columns,
of which five only remain erect. Of the correspond-
ing eastern rows four only survive. Sixty feet from
the eastern and western colonnades arose the central
group of thirty-six colamns, and in this interval are
to be traced the courses of aqueducts, in some places
cut in the rock.8 Of these columns five alone are en-
tire, which, with those already mentioned, form an
aggregate of fifteen, still occupying their sites;9 the
rest lie prostrate in the accumulated dust of ages, and
many of the pedestals are demolished or overwhelmed
in rubbish.
This magnificent assemblage of columns consisted
of two distinct orders, — those composing the three
exterior double rows being uniform in their architec-
ture, while the center group, all of which are alike,
differed from those surrounding them. The two
orders are thus described by Sir R. K. Porter: Of the
first he says, "The total height of each column is sixty
feet,10 and its length from tor to capital forty-four feet.
The shaft is finely fluted in fifty-two divisions ; and at
its lower extremity begins a cincture and a torus; the
former two inches, the latter one foot in depth. From
thence devolves the pedestal, in form of the cup and
8 Niebuhr mentions this, and says the terrace was paved with stones of
extraordinary size.
» Delia Valle, in 1621, saw 25 pillars standing.
Herbert, in 1627, \ 19
Olearius, in 1638, I
Kaempfer, in 1696, \ 17
Niebuhr, in 1765, I
Franklin, and all travelers \ 15
down to Sir R. K. Porter, J
Lieut. Alexander, in 1826, 13
10 Niebuhr computes the height of these at fifty-two feet, and of the center
ones at forty-eight.
114 Persia, the Land of the Magi
leaves of a pendant lotus. It rests upon a plinth of
eight inches, and measures in circumference twenty-
four feet six inches; the whole, from the cincture to
the plinth, comprising a height of five feet ten inches.
The capitals which remain, though much injured, suf-
fice to show that they were also surmounted with the
double demi-bull (or unicorn). The heads of the bull
forming the capitals take the directions of the faces of
the respective fronts of the terrace; and I think there
can be no doubt that the wide hollow between the
necks received a beam, meant to support and connect
an entablature, over which has been placed the roof."
Of the central group he remarks, "They are placed at
the same distance from each other as the columns in
the other divisions, and the dimensions are similar in
point of circumference and in the depth of the ped-
estal, as also in the general particulars of the orna-
ments; but they are only fifty-five feet in height. The
shafts, which are fluted like the others, are about
thirty-five feet in length; the capitals are of a quite
different character, being of the same description with
those at the great portal. The two lower divisions
are evidently constructed of the hallowed lotus; the
upper compartment has only two volutes; the middle
compartment (which is only one division of the lotus)
appears to have some extraneous body introduced into
the opening between it and the lower part; and the
angular and unfinished state of that side of the capital
seems to testify the same; here then the connecting
line must have run, whence the roof could spring."
Immediately to the south of these groups, and ele-
vated six or seven feet above the terrace on which
they stand, is a mass of ruins of a different descrip-
Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis 115
tion, among the fragments of which may be traced
abundance of the same figures which adorn the stair-
case. It appears to have contained at least three
apartments, the doorways and window-frames of
which, formed of huge blocks of highly polished mar-
ble, with numerous niches, bear various bas-reliefs;
especially one of a monarch clad in long flowing robes,
with two attendants holding over him the umbrella
and fly-flap; while others represent combats between
men and various imaginary animals. Faint remains
of a double colonnade between the western face of this
building and the same face of the grand terrace are
still visible.
Still farther southward appear other complicated
masses of ruins, among which are many vestiges of
elaborate sculptures as well as of colonnades. Sir R.
K. Porter saw the bases of ten columns three inches in
diameter, and he conjectures that the largest may have
been attached to the abode of the sovereign.11 The
principal doorways and window-frames, of gigantic
proportions and exquisite workmanship, are still in
their places; but fragments of sculpture and plinths of
columns scattered about in heaps of rubbish evince the
power of time and weather over the most solid struc-
tures. The royal personage with his two attendants
appear frequently in the bas-reliefs on the entrances,
and many figures like those in other parts of the ruins
also occur, together with occasional inscriptions in the
arrow-headed or cuneiform character. A subterra-
nean aqueduct, which seems to have supplied the whole
series of edifices from a tank yet visible at the foot of
the rocks, passes under the ruins; and in this dark
11 Niebuhr supposes this to have been the first-built portion of all the
edifices on the platform.
116 Persia, the Land of the Magi
labyrinth Chardin wandered long, and Morier found
himself disappointed.
There are vestiges of two other edifices on the plat-
form; one to the north of those last mentioned, and
another to the southeast. These also bear bas-reliefs
of the same description as those already delineated.
But by far the most considerable of the structures
which have occupied this area, except the Chehel
Minar (as the aggregate group of columns is called),
is a square of 210 feet, situated a considerable space
northward from the columns. Two doorways enter
it from every side, but the grand portals are on the
north. These are thirteen feet in width, — the others
are only seven, and all are richly adorned with sculp-
ture of the same characters with that already de-
scribed.12
We have still to notice the tombs, — those magnifi-
cent resting-places, as they are no doubt justly deemed,
of the ancient monarchs of Persia.13 In the face of
the mountain, about 500 yards eastward from the Hall
of Columns, appears a niche 72 feet broad by 130 high,
according to Chardin, cut in the solid rock, the face of
which is divided into two compartments, each highly
ornamented with sculpture. In the lower compart-
ment, four pilasters, with capitals of the double-headed
12 Le Brun estimates the number of figures of men and animals on the
whole of the ruins, including the tombs, at 1,300, which Niebuhr does not
think exaggerated.
13 The question cannot but arise here, how the princes of a people whose
religion forbade interment, and whose custom was to expose the dead to
gradual decay and to the fowls of the air, should have formed depositories so
elaborate. They were probably intended as crypts to contain embalmed
bodies, rather than as places of sepulture. Yet even this seems contrary to
the doctrine of Zerdusht, which inculcates the resolution of the body into
its original elements, and their reunion at the resurrection, as fundamental
tenets. We find, nevertheless, that the Sassanian kings were buried, and at
Istakhar too; for Yezdijird, the last of the race, was sent from Khorasan to
be laid in the sepulchre of his fathers.
Antiquities of Persia— Per sepolis 117
unicorn, carry upon beams an architrave, frieze, and
cornice. The space between the center pillar is occu-
pied by a false door carved in the rock, in the lower
part of which an opening has been broken, probably
in search of treasure. The upper compartment ex-
hibits, in bas-relief, a coffer (not unlike the figures of
the Jewish Ark of the Covenant), terminated at either
end by nondescript animals, and supported by their
legs, which resemble those of griffins. A double row
of fourteen figures each is sculptured on this chest.
On the top, at one end, is placed a fire-altar, while
opposite on an elevated stage of three steps, stands a
royal figure, holding up his right hand as if in adora-
tion, and grasping with his left a bow; above, between
the king and the altar, hovers a symbolical figure, sup-
posed to be the monarch's attendant spirit.
On entering the broken doorway a chamber is dis-
covered, about thirty feet wide by fifteen or sixteen
deep, and ten or twelve high, at the further end of
which are three cavities, as if for bodies.14 Being all
empty, they have long been open to the curious, and
are often used by the Eeliauts who encamp near as
magazines for corn and straw.
One of the most perplexing considerations regard-
ing these tombs is the great care with which their en-
trances have been concealed from view; for the door-
way having but the semblance of a gate, there must
have been some other access even to excavate the in-
terior. Chardin thinks the subterraneous passages in
14 One of the tombs has but two of these cavities; they have all been cov-
ered with slabs of marble. According to Chardin, these crypts are thirty
inches deep, by sixty-two long and twenty-six broad. In his time, as now,
neither vault nor crypt contained anything but muddy stinking water; and
he thinks, if bodies ever were deposited there, they must have been pressed
in by violence, so small are their dimensions.
118 Persia, the Land of the Magi
which he was bewildered must have led to the sepul-
chres, although the communications had been closed.
Yet if this be the case, it is singular that no indica-
tion of such entrances has ever been discovered within
the tombs themselves.
Three quarters of a mile southward from the Tucht
e Jumsheed, Niebuhr discovered, and Morier after him
visited, a tomb resembling the others, but not so much
ornamented, and in less perfect preservation. The
most remarkable circumstance is, that it appears to
have been studiously concealed from view, and has no
doorway whatever; thus confirming Chardin's opinion,
that these repositories were approached only by secret
passages under ground. The upper part is built of
large blocks of stone; the under portion has been
hewn out of the rock.
A few miles northward from the great ruins, in a
spot called, from the Sassanian sculptures found there,
Naksh e Roostum, are four more tombs, so closely
resembling those at the Tucht as to require no par-
ticular description. They are cut in the face of a per-
pendicular rock, the natural scarping of which is
increased by art, and elevated from thirty to forty feet
from the ground, so that it is very difficult to reach
them. This has been done, however, by Captain Suth-
erland, Sir W. Ouseley, Colonel D'Arcy, and Sir R. K.
Porter, whose discoveries have only identified their
age with that of those at the Tucht e Jumsheed.
A singular and substantial building of white marble
near these tombs, twenty-four feet square, and about
thirty feet high, attracts the attention of travelers.
The ceiling is composed of two large marble slabs,
and a single stone twenty-two feet long forms the cor-
Antiquities of Persia — Persepolis 119
nice of the northern face. The portal, five feet six
inches high, and about eleven feet from the ground,
gives entrance, through a wall five feet three inches
thick, into a chamber twelve feet three inches square,
and about twenty high, the walls of which are black-
ened with smoke ; the windows being closely fitted with
stone. There is no sculpture on this building, but
many narrow niches appear in the external walls.
The natives call it the Kaaba15 of Zoroaster, and the
Nokara Khaneh of Jumsheed. Morier thinks it a fire-
temple; but there remains nothing to indicate its use
with any degree of certainty.
There are, however, two structures formed from
protuberances of rock, between five and six feet square,
which appear to have been fire-altars; and in the
recesses of the mountains Morier saw twenty niches
of various sizes, with inscriptions different from all
that he had elsewhere observed.
All the way from Naksh e Roostum to the Tucht,
both the plain and the mountains exhibit token of the
same workmanship so strikingly exhibited in these two
places. Of such vestiges, that called the Tucht e
Taoos (Throne of the Peacock) or the Haven of Jum-
sheed is the most remarkable. But it would be end-
less to enumerate all the indications of former pros-
perity which this neighborhood affords. That there
once existed on the plain of Merdusht the large and
populous capital of a mighty empire, is a fact which
admits of no dispute. But the learned are divided
regarding the name of this place; some holding it to
be the Persepolis, some the Pasargadae, of ancient his-
torians— for the appellation Istakhar is more modern,
IS The Kaaba or Temple of Mecca is the point to which the Faithful turn
their eyes at prayer.
120 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
and applies properly to a castellated mountain in the
vicinity.
Sir W. Ouseley is inclined to believe that the city in
the plain of Merdusht was Pasargadae, which name he
proposes to read Parsagarda, and considers it as iden-
tical with Persepolis. The observation of Strabo, how-
ever, who mentions that Alexander, after having
burned the palace of Persepolis, went immediately to
Pasargadae; and that of Arrian, who says that the con-
queror, having visited the tomb of Cyrus at Pasar-
gadas, returned to the palace he had burned, appear
conclusive against Sir William's hypothesis. In the
situation of Persepolis, Chardin at once recognizes
the descriptions of Arrian, Strabo, and Diodorus Sicu-
lus. Sir R. K. Porter thinks the Tucht e Jumsheed
was the palace set on fire by the Macedonian con-
queror; it was not wholly burnt down, as Quintus
Curtius would have it, but saved by his own orders
from complete destruction on recovering from his in-
toxication, as Plutarch more reasonably mentions. In
proof of this, he refers to Strabo and Arrian, who say
that the Macedonian after his return from India in-
habited the palace of Persepolis; and we learn from
the Book of Maccabees,16 that Antiochus Epiphanes,
160 years afterward, attempted to pillage that city
and its temple.
Persepolis and Pasargadas are both described as
situated near the Araxes or Kour Ab.17 The plain of
Merdusht is watered by that river; and a branch of
it, named the Polwar or Ferwur, which rises in the
valley of Mourghab, passes near the Tucht. If the
16 1st Maccabees, chap. vi.
17 It is remarkable that this river retains the name of the celebrated founder
of the empire — Cyrus; in Persian, Kour.
Antiquities of Persia — Istakhar 121
hypothesis and reasoning of Morier and Sir R. K.
Porter be well-founded, the remains of Pasargadae are
to be found in Mourghab; and in that case Persepolis
would be identified with the Tucht e Jumsheed.
ISTAKHAR.
In later times, during the sway of the Arsacidas,
Istakhar, the only name by which native historians
appear to have known this city, finds frequent mention
in their works, although little weight can be attached
to their authority. It was among the earliest con-
quests of Ardeshir Babegan; Shapoor II. made it his
residence; Yezdijird I. held his court there; and Hoor-
muz III., who reigned in the close of the sixth century,
passed two months every year at it. In the succeed-
ing age, however, it ceased to be a royal residence,
for Khoosroo Purveez bestowed the government on
one of his favorites; and it was here that the last
of the Sassanian kings lay concealed when called to
the throne A. D. 632. Twelve years afterward it
capitulated to the Mohammedans; but the people
having slain the foreign governor, were in consequence
all put to the sword. The city was ultimately de-
stroyed by the fanatical Arabs; and Shiraz being
founded in the vicinity became the capital of Fars.
Such is a sketch of the latter days of Istakhar; but
the questions, who was its founder, and who raised
the mighty fabrics of which the ruins still astonish the
traveler, remain yet unanswered. If, however, the
translation made by M. Saint Martin, of two cunei-
form inscriptions copied by Niebuhr from these ruins,
be confirmed by farther discoveries, their era may be
122 Persia, the Land of the Magi
determined, and the conjecture which assigns them to
the age of Darius and Xerxes will be reduced to cer-
tainty.
Opinions have not been less divided as to the object
of these edifices than regarding their date and founder.
That the Chehel Minar, or Hall of Columns, was dedi-
cated to some solemn and probably religious purpose
seems obvious from its peculiar architecture, its un-
fitness for a dwelling, its singular position beneath a
range of mountains, as well as from its vicinity to the
cemeteries in the rock behind. It is even doubtful
whether it ever had a roof. The distance between
the columns, the absence of all materials among the
ruins adapted to such a purpose, no less than the
scantiness of the rubbish, have been adduced as rea-
sons for concluding that it never was covered, unless
occasionally by an awning ; and to this opinion Colonel
Johnson, an intelligent traveler, inclines. But it has
been urged with considerable plausibility on the other
hand, that twenty-five feet, the distance between each
column, is a space by no means too great to be con-
nected by beams, while all such perishable materials
must have long since decayed, and those of a more
permanent nature may have been removed to assist in
constructing modern towns and villages. Besides,
the hollow between the necks of the double unicorn
capitals is obviously formed, Sir R. K. Porter thinks,
to receive the end of a rafter, as is seen where the
same order of pillars is introduced as pilasters in the
facade of the tombs. The same author observes also,
that the angular and unfinished state of part of the
capitals of the center group indicates the connecting
line from which the roof sprung; and he remarked
Antiquities of Persia — Istakhar 123
that the interior sides of them had been injured, as
if some heavy body had fallen in and grated against
them, while the outward faces are generally un-
touched. Chardin, Kaempfer, Niebuhr, and Sir W.
Ouseley, all incline to the opinion that these columns
supported some sort of covering; and indeed it is
not so difficult to comprehend how this was constructed
in the case of the Chehel Minar, as in that of the other
less elevated bviildings on the terrace, the extended
area of which must have prevented their being sup-
plied with any simple roofing.
Another question has arisen regarding the place
whence the materials of these stupendous structures
were taken. But it is obvious, not only that the stone
of the mountain behind is the same as that of which
they are built — namely, a compact gray limestone,
susceptible of a good polish, — but that there are num-
erous proofs of its having been used for this very
purpose, as several pieces half cut from the quarries,
and imperfectly finished in the style of the buildings,
are found in the vicinity, — a circumstance which has
led to an opinion that the edifices on the platform were
not completed at the period of their destruction.
One of the most striking considerations which arises
from examining these splendid monuments, is the
great mechanical skill and exquisite taste evinced in
their construction, and which indicates an era of high
cultivation and considerable scientific knowledge. We
see here, as in Egypt, blocks of stone forty and fifty
feet long, and of enormous weight, placed one above
another with a precision which renders the points of
union almost invisible; columns sixty feet high, con-
sisting of huge pieces admirably formed, and jointed
124 Persia, the Land of the Magi
with invariable accuracy; and a detail of sculpture,
which, if it cannot boast the exact anatomical propor-
tions and flowing outline of the Greek models, displays
at least chiseling as delicate as any work of art on
the banks of the Nile.
The numerous inscriptions in letters or symbols
which have hitherto baffled the research of the learned,
need not detain us long. They are all in what is
called, from their shape, the cuneiform or arrow-
headed character, and many of them, especially those
on the north wall of the terrace and on one of the
tombs at Naksh e Roostum, are of great length.
Chardin, Le Brun, and Niebuhr, have given speci-
mens of those inscriptions; and the last of these
authors has with great labor copied three of them.
Several modem travelers particularly Sir R. K.
Porter, have added to the stock of materials in the
hands of the learned. The late lamented Mr. Rich,
for many years resident at Bagdad, visited Persepolis
with the intention of making a perfect copy of every
literary carving in that neighborhood; and it was his
intention to transmit to Professor Grotefend the re-
sult of his labors, to assist the researches of that
profound Orientalist. But his untimely death, by
removing from the field of Eastern inquiry one of its
most zealous and successful cultivators, must, it is to
be feared, have defeated this laudable object.
According to Baron St. Martin, there are several
sorts of cuneiform writing, the characters of which
are perfectly distinct. A number of inscriptions
(forty-two, some very long) have lately been collected
near the lake and city of Van, in Turkish Armenia,
by Mr. Shultz, a German, sent thither for the purpose
Antiquities of Persia — Istakhar 125
by the French minister of foreign affairs in 1826; and
among these three separate cuneiform characters have
been distinguished by the Baron, who conceives from
their situation that they may belong to the age of
Semiramis. Of these only one resembles the writing
at Persepolis.
He doubts, indeed, whether any real progress has
yet been made in deciphering these characters ; admit-
ting, however, that if subsequent discoveries shall con-
firm the deductions of Professor Grotefend, he will
be entitled to the honor of first ascertaining what Per-
sian kings founded the edifices at Persepolis. These
monarchs he holds to be Darius and Xerxes; and this
conclusion is supported by a very ingenious inference
made by himself. A vase of alabaster, in the King
of France's collection, bore an inscription in the Per-
sepolitan character, by the side of which was placed
a set of Egyptian hieroglyphics that had been trans-
lated by Champollion. M. St. Martin having ascer-
tained the value of the cuneiform characters by com-
parison with their hieroglyphical synonyms, applied
these to two inscriptions copied by Niebuhr, the mean-
ing of which he thus conceives himself to have found
out. His translation is as follows:
First inscription: "Darius, the powerful king, king
of kings, king of gods, son of Vyshtasp, of an illus-
trious race, and most excellent."
Second inscription: "Xerxes, the powerful king;
king of kings, son of Darius, of an illustrious race."
The reasoning which brought him to this conclusion
is ingenious, and "it is to be hoped" (as he modestly
expresses himself) "that this accidental discovery may
lead us to important results when compared with the
126 Persia, the Land of the Magi
cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon, Media, and Ar-
menia, and diffuse a new light over the history of the
East." As yet, however, we have not understood that
his views have either been confirmed, or followed up
with that zeal which the learned author anticipated.18
M. Silvestre de Sacy, who has so successfully em-
ployed himself upon Sassanian inscriptions, considers
M. Grotefend to have made out, beyond contradiction,
the names of Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes. He also
agrees with Sir R. K. Porter in assigning the tombs
to the era of these monarchs; and regrets that the
zealous traveler did not copy the first lines of the
inscription on the principal one, as it might have con-
firmed his own conjecture of its being the sepulchre
of Darius Hystaspes. Such then is the present state
of this inquiry, and so arduous, if not so hopeless,
does the task of elucidating the subject appear, from
the very limited materials which exist to throw light
upon each other.
Before quitting the plain of Merdusht we have to
notice certain remarkable castellated rocks near the
ruins, which probably formed the defenses of the
ancient city. We allude to the hills of Istakhar,
Shekusteh, and Shemgan, which, with their respective
forts, are by Persian writers termed the Seh Goom-
bedan or the Three Domes. The first of these rises
nine miles north of the Tucht, and was ascended by
Morier, who estimated its elevation at 1,200 feet. The
path at its commencement was narrow and intricate,
18 While we write, we learn that this able Orientalist is no more; and with
him vanishes much of the hopes of success in his peculiar path of research.
Death has indeed been busy of late in the high places of Eastern literature, —
Young, Champollion, Renrusat, St. Martin. When shall we see the task which
they have left incomplete resumed with such ardor and so rich a stock of
talent and of learning?
Antiquities of Persia — Mourghab 127
winding up a conical hill to the height of 700 feet;
but the next portion arose 500 feet nearly perpen-
dicular, and the ascent was toilsome in the extreme.
On the top, which is marked by a single fir-tree and
some bushes, are four reservoirs, part of a gateway,
and several broken turrets and walls, — the remains
of a fortress constructed by the Arabian general Zeid.
As the travelers looked down from this summit, full
in front was seen another singular insulated cliff, also
crowned with a fortress, and known by the name of
Kallah Shareek or the Castle of Shareek, a king or
governor of the province, who was killed in defending
it against the Arabs in the seventh century.
MOURGHAB — THE TOMB OF CYRUS.
The extensive antiquities in the plains of Mourghab,
forty-nine miles north-northeast of the Tucht, resemble
those of Persepolis, with which they are supposed to
be coeval; — an account of them has been given by
Morier, and, with his accustomed accuracy, by Sir
R. K. Porter. We shall, however, confine ourselves
to the description of what they both consider to be
the tomb of Cyrus the Great.
By the natives this building is called Musjed e
Madre Solyman, the mosque of the Mother of Solo-
mon. "This interesting monument," says Sir R. K.
Porter, "stands on an eminence not far from the hills
which bound the plain to the southwest. A wide
area, marked outward by the broken shafts of twenty-
four circular columns, surrounds the building. Each
column is three feet three inches in diameter, and they
are distant from each other fourteen feet. Seventeen
128 Persia, the Land of the Magi
of these are still erect, but heaped round with rubbish,
and barbarously connected with a wall of mud. Within
this area stands the tomb. The base on which it
rests is composed of immense blocks of white marble
rising in steps, the lowest of which forms a square of
forty-four by forty feet. A succession of gigantic
steps completes, in a pyramidal shape, the pedestal
of the tomb. The edifice itself is twenty-one feet by
sixteen feet ten inches square; in the smallest face
is placed the entrance, which is two fee ten inches
high. Four layers of stones compose the fabric. The
first forms the sides of the entrance, the second its
lintel, the third a simple projecting cornice, the fourth
completes its pediment and sloping roof. The walls
are a mass of solid stone five feet thick; the chamber
is seven feet wide, ten long, and eight high. The
floor is composed of two immense slabs joined nearly
in the middle. No cuneiform inscription has been
found anywhere upon the building; but the interior
surface of the wall facing the kebla is sculptured with
ornaments, surrounding an Arabic inscription. The
roof is flat, and, together with three of the walls,
blackened with smoke. The side which faces the
door, together with the floor, remain white, and the
only thing which Mr. Morier saw within was a few
dirty manuscripts."
Tradition declares this to be the tomb of Bathsheba,
and the charge of it is given to women, who suffer
none but females to enter. But the Carmelite friars
of Shiraz told Mandelslo that it was the sepulchre of
Wallada, mother of Solyman, fourteenth caliph of the
posterity of Ali. This, however, has been deemed by
one intelligent author as at best a random piece of
Antiquities of Persia — Mourghab 129
information, particularly as two Mohammedan writers
of respectability quoted by Sir W. Ouseley19 make no
allusion to the Fatimite lady, but acquiesce in the
tradition — a circumstance which, while it in no
degree confirms the latter, appears at least to discredit
the story of the Carmelites.
The building and its enclosure are surrounded by
other ruinous structures more obviously contemporary
with Persepolis, as they bear many cuneiform inscrip-
tions, all apparently the same; and if Professor Grote-
f end's translation of these, — namely, "Cyrus the king,
ruler of the universe," — be correct, it would go far
to establish the conjecture of the travelers we have
followed, that here was the true Pasargadae, and that
in the Musjed we have the tomb of the grandson of
Astyages.
Morier in advancing his opinion and his reasons ob-
serves, "If the position of the place had corresponded
to the site of Pasargadae as well as the form of the
structure accords with the description of the tomb of
Cyrus near that city, I should have been tempted to
assign to the present building so illustrious an origin.
The tomb was raised within a grove; it was a small
edifice with an arched roof of stone, and its entrance
was so narrow that the slenderest man could scare
pass through. It rested on a quadrangular base of a
single stone, and contained the following inscription:
— 'O mortals! I am Cyrus, son of Cambyses, founder
of the Persian monarchy and sovereign of Asia;
grudge me not, therefore, this monument.' That the
plain around Musjed e Madre Solyman was the site
of a great city is proved by the ruins with which it
11 Ouseley's Travels, vol. ii, p. 432.
130 Persia, the Land of the Magi
is strewed; and that this city was of the same general
antiquity as Persepolis may be inferred from the
similarity of character in the inscriptions on the
remains of both, though this particular edifice does
not happen to display that internal evidence of a con-
temporaneous date. A grove would naturally have
disappeared in Modern Persia; the structures corre-
spond in size; the triangular roof might be called
arched, in an age when the true semi-circular arch was
probably unknown; and in the lapse of 2,400 years
the absence of an inscription would not be a decisive
evidence against its identity with the tomb of Cyrus."
According to Arrian, who wrote from the testi-
mony of one who had visited the spot, this celebrated
sepulchre was within the Royal Paradise (or garden)
of Pasargadae. Its base was a single quadrangular
stone; above was a small edifice of masonry with an
arched roof; within was the golden coffin of Cyrus,
over which was a canopy with pillars of gold, and the
whole was hung round with purple tapestry and Baby-
lonian carpets. In the same enclosure was a small
house for the Magi, to whose care the cemetery was
intrusted by Cambyses; and the charge descended
from father to son. Sir R. K. Porter saw holes in
the floor, and at the upper end of the chamber, in the
positions that would have served to admit the iron
fastenings of the coffin. Had it been cased in a stone
sarcophagus, that would doubtless (he remarks) have
remained. The plain in which the structure stands
is now, as it was then, well watered; and in a build-
ing called the Caravansary he thinks may be recog-
nized the residence of the Wise Men.
To these ingenious reasonings it might be objected,
Antiquities of Persia — Bessittoon 131
that the base of a single quadrangular stone, and the
arched roof described by Arrian, can scarcely be
identified with the pyramidal pile of large stones and
pitched stone roof of the edifice in question; and that
the doorway, two feet ten inches broad, cannot pass
for the entrance, being so narrow as hardly to admit
the slenderest man. There is, besides, as has been
already mentioned, a great uncertainty with regard to
the fate of Cyrus himself.
We shall not detain our readers with an account of
Fassa or Darabgerd; for, although the country be-
tween Shiraz and the last-mentioned place is sprinkled
with relics that might well interest the antiquary, and
the name of Darabgerd is derived from one of Persia's
most celebrated monarchs, nothing is found there con-
nected with the class of antiquities we have been con-
sidering.
BESSITTOON — ECBATANA.
The plain of Kermanshah is bounded on the north
by rugged mountains, which terminate in a naturally-
scarped precipice 1,500 feet high. A portion of the
lower part, extending 150 feet in length and 100 in
height, has been smoothed by art, leaving a projection
above and below; the latter sloping gradually in a
rocky terrace to the level of the ground at the bottom.
The absence of columnar support to the overhanging
projection has, it is supposed, procured for this sin-
gular rock the name of Bessittoon, — that is, "without
pillars."
Above the source of a clear stream which bursts
from the mountain about fifty yards from this rocky
132 Persia, the Land of the Magi
platform, are the remains of an immense piece of
sculpture, but so much defaced that scarcely any out-
line can be traced. The mutilation chiefly arises from
several subsequent additions that have been made on
the same spot. One of these, a Greek inscription, has
in its turn been forced to give way to one in Arabic,
the sole purport of which is a grant of certain lands
to a neighboring caravansary. Colonel Macdonald
Kinneir is inclined to refer this rude sculpture to the
time of Semiramis. He supports his opinion by the
authority of Diodorus, who relates from Ctesias, that
on the march to Ecbatana she encamped at Mount
Baghistan in Media, and made there a garden twelve
furlongs in compass. The mountain was dedicated to
Jupiter, and towards one side it had a steep rock seven-
teen furlongs high. She cut a piece out of the lower
part of this rock, and caused her image to be carved
upon it with one hundred of her guards standing
round her. She wrote, moreover, that Semiramis
ascended from the plain to the top of the mountain
by laying the packs and farthels of her baggage-
cattle one upon another. Hamadan being generally
admitted to be the ancient Ecbatana, there is better
reason than is commonly to be found in similar con-
jectures for believing that this sculpture dates from
the era of the Assyrian heroine. We can allow for
the exaggeration which has covered 1,500 feet into
seventeen furlongs.
Considerably higher on the smoothed rock appear
fourteen figures in precisely the same style as those
at the Tucht e Jumsheed. A line of nine persons
united by a cord tied round their necks, and having
their hands bound behind their backs, approach an-
Antiquities of Persia — Bessittoon 133
other of more majestic stature, who, holding up his
right hand with an authoritative air, treads on a
prostrate body; while his countenance, grave and
erect, assumes the expression of a superior or a con-
queror. Of these captives the greater number appear
middle-aged; but the third and the last are old men.
Three wear the same flowing dress as the figure who
is supposed to represent the monarch; the rest are
clad in tight short tunics. Above all, in the center,
floats as it were in the air the figure so often seen at
Persepolis, and which is supposed to be the guardian
angel of the principal personage.
Sir R. K. Porter thinks the design of this bas-relief,
which is finely executed, commemorates the final con-
quest of Israel by Psalmaneser, king of Assyria; and
that the ten captive figures (including that which is
prostrate under the king's feet) represent the ten
tribes that were carried into captivity. We join cor-
dially in the wish of this traveler that the inscriptions
could be deciphered.20
20 A copy of this as far as can be deciphered, may be seen in Sir R. K.
Porter's Travels, vol. ii, p. 151. The letters forming part of the word
"Gotarz" may still be recognized.
CHAPTER V.
Antiquities of Persia (Continued).
OUR attention must now be directed to the second
class of antiquities,— namely those connected
with the period of the Sassanian dynasty. Of these
the principal monuments are the sculptures of the
Tauk e Bostam or Bostan, Naksh e Roostum, of the
Naksh e Rejib, near Persepolis, and of Shapoor; — all
of them less imposing than those above described.
The most remarkable, though probably the least
ancient, is the Tauk e Bostam or the Arch of the
Garden.
TAUK E BOSTAM.
The mountain in which these sculptures are exe-
cuted forms a part of the range which terminates at
Bessittoon, and like it is bare and craggy, affording
with its rugged height a striking contrast to the fertile
plain of Kermanshah, over which it towers scarcely a
furlong from the city. By the side of a clear and
copious stream which gushes from its base, rises a
flight of several hundred steps cut in the steep rock,
and finishing abruptly on an extensive ledge. Beneath
this platform is situated the largest of the two arches,
which is twenty-four feet in width and twenty-one in
depth; while the face of the precipice has been
smoothed for a considerable space on either side, as
well as above, beyond its sweep. On the lower part
(134)
Tauk e Bostam 135
of this prepared surface, both to the right and left,
are upright entablatures, each containing an exqui-
sitely-carved ornament of foliage in the Grecian taste.
A double-wreathed border, terminating in two flutter-
ing streamers, which are attached to various parts of
the dress of the royal persons on all the Sassanian
monuments, runs round the arch. The keystone is
surmounted by a sort of crescent resting in the same
ornament; and on either side of the arch hovers a
winged female holding a clasped fillet or diadem, with
the usual waving streamer. The chiseling is good,
and, though inferior in elegance to that seen at Persep-
olis and Mourghab, the disposition of the wings and
drapery is such that Sir R. K. Porter supposes them
to be the work of an artist of the Roman-Grecian
school. Both the inner sides and back of this arch
are sculptured. The latter divided into two com-
partments. In the upper are three figures, of which
the one in the center represents a monarch wearing a
pointed diadem, whence rise a pair of small wings,
embracing with their points a crescent, and that again
enclosing a ball or globe. His robe is rich and jeweled ;
his hair floats in curls on his shoulders; his left hand
rests on a sword; and with his right he seems to
refuse a plain fillet with streamers, which is presented
by the person on his left. This figure wears the same
diadem as the sovereign, with some difference in its
embellishments; but his garb is not so highly orna-
mented, and the style of his trousers does not corres-
pond. On the right is a female crowned with a dia-
dem varying from the others; she offers to the center
figure a circlet similarly decorated. The lower com-
partment contains a single colossal horseman clad in a
136 Persia, the Land of the Magi
coat of chain-armor. On his left arm he bears a
shield ; a spear is on his right shoulder ; and a royal
helmet adorned with streamers covers his head. His
steed is caparisoned and richly ornamented; but both
horse and man are very much mutilated. There are
traces of a Greek and of a Pehlevi inscription, both
illegible. On the sides are delineated a boar and a
stag-hunt in the minutest detail, and comprising in-
numerable figures of men and animals carved with
great truth and spirit.
The second arch is but nine feet broad and twelve
deep. It is plain externally, and contains on the back
of the recess only two figures similarly habited, with
the balloon-shaped cap, curled hair, and rich robes;
the hands resting on the pommels of long straight
swords which hang down perpendicularly in front.
A dagger depends at the right side of each, and the
number of streamers denote both to be royal person-
ages. Two inscriptions in Pehlevi are found, one on
each side of these figures; the translation of which,
according to De Sacy, — the first person in modern
Europe whose industry and genius enabled him to
rediscover the value of the alphabetic characters, and
the meaning of some legends in that language which
had long been given up as irrecoverably lost, — is as
follows, and identifies the sovereigns represented :
First Inscription. — " This is the figure of the adorer of
Ormuzd, the excellent Shapoor, king of kings, of Iran
and An Iran, — celestial germ of the race of gods, —
son of the servant of Ormuzd, the excellent Hoor-
muz, king of kings, of Iran and An Iran, — celestial
germ of the race of the gods, grandson of the excel-
lent Narses, king of kings."
Tank e Bostam 137
Second Inscription. — "He of whom this is the figure
is the adorer of Ormuzd, the excellent Vaharam, king
of kings, of Iran and An Iran, — celestial germ of the
race of the gods, — son of the adorer of Ormuzd, the
excellent Sapor, king of kings, of Iran and An Iran, —
celestial germ of the race of the gods, — grandson of,
the excellent Hoormuz, king of kings."1
Sir R. K. Porter is inclined to adopt the tradition of
the country, so far as regards the date of the first arch
at least, and to attribute them to the reign of Khoosroo
Purveez, v/hose amusements in this, the scene of his
dalliance with the fair Shireen, are portrayed in the
hunting-scenes; while he conceives that the three fig-
ures in the upper compartment represent Khoosroo
with Shireen and the Emperor Maurice, his patron
and father by adoption.2 M. de Sacy agrees with the
traveler in thinking that the two winged forms are
Ferohers, perhaps a little altered by the taste of a
Greek artist. If this be the case, and if the gentle-
man's translation be correct, the bas-relief in the sec-
ond arch must be considerably older than the first, as
the inscriptions would then apply to Sapor II., or
Zoolactaf, and to Baharam or Vaharam his son, sur-
named Kermanshah, who long filled the office of vice-
roy over Kerman during his brother's life, and after-
ward founded the city of that name.
There is another bas-relief at Tauk e Bostam, cut
on a smooth piece of rock over the source of the
stream. It is termed the Four Calunders, and con-
1 Sir John Malcolm showed this translation to Mollah Ferose, the learned
Parsee already mentioned, who confirmed the accuracy of the French acade-
mician, adding that the words "Iran vo An Iran," signifying "believers and
unbelievers;" that is, the whole world, — Fersia and elsewhere.
1 Sir Robert follows the Eastern tradition, that Shireen was the Roman
emperor's daughter. Sir John Malcolm rejects this improbable tale.
138 Persia, the Land of the Magi
sists of three figures erect, — one of whom, clad in the
ensigns of royalty, treads under foot a fourth who
lies prostrate. The workmanship resembles that of
the smaller arch, and no doubt refers to the same
events.
In addition to the bas-reliefs, it appears certain that
the rocks of Tauk e Bostam were once adorned with
statues; for Sir R. K. Porter discovered, leaning
against the bank of the river beneath the ledge, the
remains of a coarsely-hewn colossal figure which had
fallen from a height above; and, on examining the
spot where it had stood, a row of sculptured feet
broken off at the ankles showed that other statues
had once existed there. The mutilated one in ques-
tion appears to have resembled the figures in the
coarse bas-reliefs; for the drapery extended to a point
near the knees where it was broken off; one hand was
placed on its breast, while the other rested on some-
thing like a sword, depending in front of the body.
Poetical and popular tradition attributes the an-
tiquities of Tauk e Bostam not only to the age of
Khoosroo Purveez, but to the workmanship of an ad-
mirer of the lovely Shireen. The monarch, anxious
to perpetuate the beauties of his mistress, sought for
an artist able to carve her likeness in lasting stone.
Ferhaud, the first sculptor of the age, presented him-
self for this purpose; but, intoxicated with her charms,
he madly endeavored to gain her affections. His
royal master took advantage of this infatuation, and
employed him in numberless works, with a promise
that his beloved should be the reward of his success.
Thus inspired, the energy of Ferhaud was inexhaust-
ible; the sculptures of this place and Bessittoon were
Tauk c Bostam 139
soon completed; and such progress was made in cut-
ting through the mountain to bring a stream from the
neighboring valley, that Khoosroo became alarmed
lest he should be called on to perform his engagement.
To avoid this dilemma he had recourse to treachery.
While Ferhaud was at work on the highest part of
the rock, making the echoes resound with the name of
his mistress even more than with the clang of his in-
struments, an old woman approached him, — "Alas!"
she said, "Ferhaud, why do you thus call upon the
name of Shireen, when that lovely one is already no
more? Two weeks have fled and the third is now
passing since that light of the world was extinguished
and Khoosroo put on his robes of mourning." Fer-
haud heard and believed, — reason instantly forsook
him, — seizing the aged female, he threw himself from
the peak, and the betrayer and betrayed met their
death at the same moment. The writers of romance
related that, hearing of her lover's fate, Shireen pined,
and, "like the rose deserted by the nightingale,
dropped her head and withered;" when the sovereign,
struck with compunction, made what reparation was
in his power, by permitting the lovers to rest in one
grave, — out of which two rose-trees grew and twined
together, while a huge thistle sprung from the breast
of their destroyer. History, however, describes this
celebrated lady as faithful to her husband through
danger and misfortune, even to death. When he fell
by a parricidal command, and when his son declared
to the queen his incestuous passion, she desired, as the
price of her consent, to take a last look of her mur-
dered lord, and poisoned, or as some say stabbed, her-
self on the body.
140 Persia, the Land oj ike Magi
SHAPOOR AND ITS SCULPTURES.
The next Sassanian monuments of importance are
the sculptures at Shapoor. Fifteen miles north of
Kauzeroun are the ruins of that city, once the capital
of Persia, founded by the monarch whose name it
bears, and situated in a well-watered plain at the
mouth of a narrow pass, from which issues a fine
river. According to Morier it covered a space of
about six miles in circumference. At the entrance of
the valley, which is scarcely thirty yards across,3
stands an insulated hill that exhibits portions of the
walls and towers of its ancient fortifications. A pleas-
ing, though lonely, pastoral landscape, shut in by lofty
mountains, appears through the rocky gorge of the
valley; and on the cliffs arc carved the sculptures now
to be shortly described.
The first object which arrests the attention on the
southern side of the river is a much mutilated bas-
relief, carved on the surface of the rock, consisting of
two colossal horsemen, — one of whom, on the right,
stands over a prostrate figure that seems to be in the
Roman costume. Another person, in the same dress,
is in an attitude of supplication at the horse's knees;
and a head, in alt-relief, is seen just between its hinder
feet. The equestrian figure to the left is least de-
stroyed; and the height of each is about fifteen feet.
The second sculpture, which is far more perfect,
appears on a tablet divided into three compartments;
the central one contains a mounted personage wearing
a mural crown, above which is a globe or balloon-
shaped ornament, common to the Sassanian sover-
1 So says Morier. Colonel Johnson makes it 200; their estimates may
refer to different points, but truth undoubtedly lies between.
Shapoor and its Sculptures 141
eign. His hair falls in massy curls on each shoulder,
and riband-like streamers flow backward. He is
clothed in a loose robe, a quiver hangs by his side,
and in his right hand he holds a figure behind him,
dressed in the Roman tunic and helmet. A suppliant,
in a similar habit, is on its knees before the horse's
head, with its hands extended, and a face expressive
of entreaty. A person in the same attire is stretched
under the horse's feet; while another, with something
of an Egyptian countenance stands, in a beseeching
attitude, to the right of this compartment. There is
also a figure partly concealed by the one that is kneel-
ing. Above the animal's head hovers a winged boy
bearing a scroll. The right-hand section is sub-
divided into six others, each containing three figures,
partly in supplicating attitudes ; while that on the left
bears two rows of five horsemen each, separated by
a plain cross band. The principal group is about
twelve feet in length, the minor ones four feet ten
inches.
On the opposite side of the river are a still greater
number of tablets. The first is eleven yards fovir
inches long, and contains a multitude of figures very
elaborately designed, and representing, as it appears,
the triumph of a Persian king over a Roman army.
On the left of this bas-relief is a slab containing two
colossal horsemen, each grasping with his extended
hand a circle, to which the royal streamers are at-
tached. The sculpture displays much anatomical
skill, even to the veins and arteries of the horse's legs.
A very extensive group next occurs; but its lower
parts have been so destroyed, that only the heads of
men, camels, and horses are seen, with part of a
142 Persia, the Land of the Magi
mounted personage, who holds in his hand a bow and
arrows. The last is a bas-relief in excellent preserva-
tion, fourteen yards long, and composed of a great
variety of figures and characters. It is divided into
a number of compartments, of which the one in the
center is appropriated to a design almost entirely re-
sembling that described in the second place.
There is little doubt that these labors of the chisel
commemorate the triumph of Shapoor over Valerian;
although De Sacy thinks they represent the successors
of Ardeshir Babegan over Artabanes, the last of the
Arsacidae. But of all Sassanian monuments those at
Shapoor have been the least explored, principally on
account of the danger to be apprehended from the
Mahmowd Sunni robbers, by whom the neighborhood
is infested.
The most remarkable object is a statue, now mutil-
ated and prostrate, in a cavern a short distance up the
Shapoor valley. The mountain rises first in a steep
slope, crowned by a perpendicular precipice of lime-
stone 700 feet in height.4 The ascent is laborious,
occupying forty minutes without a halt; and the en-
trance to the cave is raised about 140 feet above the
base of the precipice, the lower third being almost per-
pendicular. Arrived at this point, the traveler reaches
a spacious archway 150 feet broad and nearly 40 high,
within which, about sixteen or eighteen paces from
the mouth, in a sort of natural antechamber, stands
the pedestal, resting against which lies the statue with
the head downwards. Both have been cut from a pil-
lar of solid rock. The figure, which, when erect,
4 Lieutenant Alexander calls the mountain 1.000 feet high, and the precipice
400 only. There is nothing more fallacious than judging of elevations by
the eye.
Shapoor and its Sculptures 143
must have been from fifteen to twenty feet high, rep-
resents the same royal personage who appears in all
the Sassanian sculptures of Fars. Its head, though
now defaced, has been crowned with the mural dia-
dem; the bushy and curled hair hangs over the shoul-
ders ; a collar of pearls encircles the neck ; the body is
covered with a thin robe, gathered in plaits at the
girdle, and flowing in free folds on the thighs; the
belt crosses from the shoulder to the left hip, another
from the right hip to the left thigh, and is tied with
a riband terminating in the royal streamers; the same
ornaments depend from the head, and are attached to
the shoe-ties ; the right hand rests on the side, and the
left appears to have grasped the pommel of the sword.
The sculpture resembles exactly that of the tablets, —
tolerably executed, and exhibiting some knowledge
of anatomy and design, yet not so beautifully chiseled
as the bas-reliefs at Persepolis. There is little doubt
that the statue represents Shapoor ; and we have dwelt
somewhat long on its description, because, with the
exception of the mutilated remains at Tauk e Bostam,
it is supposed to be the only thing of the king in Persia.5
The extent of the cavern is enormous ; its communi-
cations infinite; while multitudes of stalactites, in all
their fanciful forms, diversify the chambers, some of
which are wonderfully lofty and spacious. Proceed-
ing in the dark, or by the red lights of torches, the eye
is caught by dim fantastic shapes, to which the flicker-
ing gleams lends a dubious semblance of life; and
gigantic forms seem to animate the abyss, as if ready
to seize and punish the intruder. Colonel Johnson
6 It has been said that there was a statue of Shapoor at Nishapour; if so,
no trace of it remains.
144 Persia, the Land of the Magi
penetrated 190 feet to an immense circular and vaulted
room 100 feet high, from which branched several pas-
sages, in one of which he observed an empty tank,
twenty feet by ten, and six feet deep. Two hundred
feet more brought him to a large irregular excava-
tion, surrounded by grotesque stalactites; beyond this
were other vaults and entrances, some containing mud
and water, intensely cold ; and he was forced to retire,
after spending a considerable time there, convinced
that he had not penetrated half through these exten-
sive vaults.6 Such fissures are common in formations
of secondary limestone; nor is there the smallest rea-
son for believing, with some travelers, that art has
been employed to assist the processes of nature.
Traces of tablets may be seen near the entrance, with
the marks of the chisel visible on the hard rock; but
neither sculpture nor characters of any sort are to be
found in the cave.
To this sketch of the antiquities of Shapoor we
shall only add, that the city, founded according to
tradition by Tahmuras Deevebund, and destroyed by
Alexander the Great, was rebuilt by the king whose
name it bears, who made it his capital. The situa-
tion in a well-watered plain enabled him to render it
an enchanting abode, according to the taste of the
times; it abounded in gardens and baths, in fruits and
flowers of hot as well as of cold climates, — for the
contiguous valleys ripen oranges and dates as well as
hardier productions, — and in all the necessaries and
luxuries of Asiatic life. And it is strange that a spot
6 The present writer can add his testimony to Colonel Johnston's account
of this remarkable cavern and its interesting tenant. The ramifications are
so extensive, that no one has ever been known to explore them, and the natives
have a story that a cow, having wandered in, did not make her appearance
until two years after, when she came out accompanied by two calves.
Naksh e Roostum and Naksh e Re jib 145
so favored by nature should ever have been deserted
for the comparatively arid plain where Kauzeroun
now stands.
NAKSH E ROOSTUM AND NAKISH E REJIB
We must return once more to the vicinity of Per-
sepolis, — to the tombs of the kings, where the sculp-
tures, by the natives called Naksh e Roostum, are to
be found; and to a recess between that point and the
Tucht, named by them Naksh e Rejib. These shall
not detain us long; for all Sassanian monuments so
closely resemble each other, that the description of a
few may serve for all.
On six tablets, cut on the perpendicular rocks that
contain the tombs, have been sculptured many bas-
reliefs, all undoubtedly Sassanian, and generally rep-
resenting the triumphs or victories of the early kings
of that race. The most northern exhibits two horse-
men,— one of whom, with the mural crown, sur-
mounted with a ball from which floats the royal
streamer, tenders the circlet with its ribands to an-
other whose head is covered with a round helmet, also
surmounted with the balloon-shaped crest. This de-
sign, as well as a similar one at Shapoor, has been
supposed to represent Ardeshir Babegan, the first of
the Sassanides, resigning the emblem of the empire to
his son. Next to this is a bas-relief with nine figures,
five on the right and three on the left of a personage
adorned with the ensigns of royalty, — the figures on
the right seem beckoning to those on the left.
Towards the center of the range of rocks is a spirited
representation of two horsemen meeting in the shock
146 Persia, the Land of the Magi
of an engagement. One of the steeds has been thrown
on its haunches by the collision, and the spear of the
rider is broken, while that of his adversary passes
through his neck. The fourth is an exact copy, on a
gigantic scale, of the subject at Shapoor; in which
the mounted king is supposed to be receiving the sub-
mission of a Roman emperor, who kneels before him.
On the horse's belly is a long Greek inscription, for
the most part illegible, and one in Pehlevi, which has
been thus rendered by De Sacy: — "The figure of the
servant of Ormuzd, of the divine (or god) Ardeshir,
king of kings of Iran and An Iran, — of the race of
the gods, — son of the god Babec, a king," — The fifth
tablet contains three figures; that in the center wears
the globe-surmounted crown, and his right hand ex-
tended holds a ring, which is also grasped by a female
on his left. The third appears to be an attendant.
The sixth and last is a colossal representation of two
horsemen rushing on to combat; and though the one
on the left wears on his head a ball with streamers
instead of a three-peaked cap, it might seem as if the
design was to exhibit the two warriors above de-
scribed preparing for the mortal shock. This tablet
is twenty-four feet long by twelve high, but is much
mutilated.
The sculptures at Naksh e Rejib vary somewhat
from those already delineated. They consist of three
tablets. The first contains seven colossal and two
diminutive figures. The subjects is that of two per-
sons with clubs in their hands, each holding the riband
circlet; but they are on foot, and their costume differs
from that of the other bas-reliefs. Behind the chief,
on the right, stand two women, with their faces
Interior of Tabriz Bazaar.
Naksh e Roostum and Naksh e Re jib 147
averted, and one of them raising her finger with art
impressive gesture. The other has also two attend-
ants, one of whom holds the fly-flap over his head;
the whole of this tablet has been greatly injured.
The second piece, which is much better preserved,
exhibits a royal personage on horseback, followed by
nine attendants, wearing high caps, with bushy beards
and hair. From the elaborate details of dress and
equipage, it appears to have been designed to repre-
sent the king in his greatest pomp ; but the face of the
horse and its rider are both totally destroyed. On the
chest of the animal is a Greek inscription, which has
been copied by most travelers, but is not intelligible
without filling up considerable blanks at hazard. This
has been done by M. de Sacy; and it is satisfactory
that the Greek inscription thus supplied agrees with
his translation of the Pehlevi beside it. It runs as
follows: — "This is the resemblance of the servant of
Ormuzd, the divine Shapoor, king of the kings of Iran
and An Iran, — of the race of the gods, — son of the
servant of Ormuzd, the divine Artaxares, king of the
kings of Iran, — of the race of the gods, — grandson of
the divine Babec the king." The remaining tablet
contains but a repetition of the two horsemen holding
a ring.
We shall describe no more of these monuments,
although several exist in various parts of the king-
dom; and possibly some may have escaped the inqui-
ries of travelers. There is, as we have already re-
marked, a sculptured rock at Selmas, on the north-
west shore of the lake of Urumeah; and another,
Naksh e Roostum, at Darab, in which Shapoor is
representing laying his hand with a compassionate air
148 Persia, the Land of the Magi
on the head of the captive chief. In the neighborhood
of that place there are some remains resembling Druid-
ical erections, described by Sir W. Ouseley, who
almost mentions an imperfect equestrian figure of
Shapoor, or some of the Sassanian princes, at Rh6;
but for the particulars of these we must refer to the
works of the various authors laready quoted.
CHAPTER VI.
Cities, Villages, Condition of People in General,
Taxation and Khans.
THE cities of Persia, surveyed from a command-
ing situation, appear particularly monotonous
and uninteresting. The houses, built of mud, do not
differ in color from the earth on which they stand, and
from their lowness and irregular construction resem-
ble casual inequalities on its surface rather than hu-
man dwellings. Even those of the great seldom ex-
ceed one story, and the lofty walls which shroud them
from sight produce a blank and cheerless effect. There
are no public buildings except the mosques, medressas
or colleges, and caravansaries; and these, usually
mean like the rest, lie hid in the midst of the moulder-
ing relics of former edifices. The general coup (Tail
embraces an assemblage of flat roofs, little rounded
cupolas, and long walls of mud, thickly interspersed
with ruins. Minarets and domes of any magnitude
are rare, and few possess claims to elegance or
grandeur. Even the smoke, which, towering from
the chimneys and hovering over the roofs of an Eng-
lish city, suggests the existence of life and comfort,
does not here enliven the dreary scene; and the only
relief to its monotony is to be sought in the gardens,
adorned with chinar, cypress, and fruit trees, which,
to a greater or less extent, are seen near all the towns
and villages of Persia.
On approaching these places, even such of them as
(149)
150 Persia, the Land of the Magi
have been capitals of the empire, the traveler casts
his eyes around for those marks of human intercourse,
and listens for that hum of men, which never fails to
cheer the heart and raise the spirits of the wayfarer;
but he looks and listens in vain. Instead of the well-
ordered road, bordered with hedge-rows, enclosures,
and gay habitations, and leading in due course to the
imposing street of lofty and substantial edifices, he
who approaches an Eastern town must thread the nar-
row and dirty lane, rugged as the torrent's bed, con-
fined by decayed mud walls, or high enclosures of sun-
dried bricks, which shut up whatever of verdure the
place can boast ; he must pick his uncertain way among
heights and hollows — the fragments of old buildings,
and the pits which have supplied the materials for new
ones. At length reaching the wall, generally in a
state of dilapidation, which girds the city, and
entering the gateway, where lounge a few squalid
guards, he finds himself in a bazaar. This custom
among Asiatic people of building walls and gates to
their cities is as old as their civilization. They stand
in the Bible as prominently as Mount Zion. They
were the protection of ancient cities even as they are
in this day. They are looked upon with much venera-
tion and their strong walls give much comfort to the
inhabitants. Hence Isaiah uses the expression, "Thou
shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise." In
the twenty-first chapter of Revelations the walls of
the New Jerusalem adorned with all manner of pre-
cious stones and the twelve gates are spoken of.
David addresses them saying, "Lift up your heads, O
ye gates: and be ye lifeted up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of Glory shall come in." Most of the
Cities and Villages 151
buildings in the city are earthen. The market is built
of brick and arched over everywhere so one cannot
see the sky. There are skylights here and there. The
shopkeepers are usually Mohammedans. You see
them at their prayers. They will stop their prayers
and come and wait on you if you wish to buy any-
thing and then go back to their prayers. When a lady
goes out to buy anything she veils herself entirely.
Common people leave a little space for the eyes so
as to see, but the noble ladies only small holes to
look through. The cities are divided into wards. Each
ward has a name. No names are given to streets.
Houses are not numbered. If a person wishes to see
anyone, he will ask the name of the ward. After he
finds the ward he will ask for the house, going from
house to house. Policemen walk the streets of cities
after ten o'clock evenings and arrest anyone they find.
If anyone tries to flee away the policeman sets a dog
after him. Of the three hundred and sixty-five nights
in the year, each one has a name. When any person
is arrested the policeman will ask him what he is
out for, and he will say, "I went to see a friend and
it got late." The policeman will then ask him what
night it is. If the person can tell, they then release
him; if not, they keep him and maltreat him till morn-
ing, when, after he has paid a forfeit or present, he
is allowed to go.
When one looks at a village it seems like one house,
for the houses are built so close together. All the
buildings are of earth. Around all orchards or vine-
yards are earth walls fifteen feet high, so no one can
enter. During summer all people sleep on the tops
of houses, for it is hot. The tops of houses are flat
152 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and close together. Neighbors can pass from each
other's housetops without going down, as the houses
are so close together. You can walk on the tops of
the houses over a greater part of the village just as
well as on the ground. Neighbors often, have an open-
ing in the partition wall between their houses and talk
together. The whole family lives in one room, and
cook, eat and sleep in the same room. They use no
knife or fork in eating. They use their right hand
for knife and their left hand for fork. They have
no chairs. They spread a tablecloth on the floor or
ground and sit around and eat. Half the room is car-
peted and the other half is dirt floor. When anyone
enters a house he takes off his shoes on the earth floor
and walks in his stockings on the carpets. Houses
furnished with Persian carpets have tolerably good
bedclothes. The whole family sleeps in the same room.
Sometimes three or four children sleep in the same
bed. They have no windows in the walls, but have
windows in the ceiling or top of the house. Women
work in the house and men's duties are outdoors,
men never do any work that belongs to women. It
is a shame for them.
CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE IN GENERAL.
Most of the Persians are very poor. I think there
are two reasons for their poverty.
First, business is poor.
Second, taxation is great.
In regard to business, there are no railroads in the
country and the traveling is on horseback, thirty miles
a day. There are no large factories and companies
A Persian Lady.
Conditions of the People in General 153
to give employment to people, so that makes a large
majority of the people constantly idle.
Most of the business over there is farming, but
land is owned by a rich class of Mohammedans who
are called lords.
Business in the city is the open bazaars. The
bazaars constitute places of barter and factory ; all the
methods of manufacture are open to the view of the
passers-by.
The construction of these bazaars may be shortly
described as follows : A paved pathway, varying from
eight to sixteen feet in width, separates two rows of
cells, before which runs a raised platform or con-
tinuous booth. Squatted upon these sit the venders
of commodities, having their goods displayed beside
them; the vaults contain the rest of their stock; and
in some cases there is another apartment in the rear,
which serves as a magazine for the more opulent shop-
keepers. The whole is arched over either with well-
constructed brickwork or clay; or, in very inferior
establishments, with branches of trees and thatch,
which intercept the sun's rays. Here sit the merchants
and various tradesmen, each class for the most part
keeping to their respective quarters; so that smiths,
braziers, shoemakers, saddlers, potters, cloth and chintz
sellers, tailors, and other handicraftsmen may generally
be found together; but confectioners, cooks, apothe-
caries, bakers, fruiterers, and green sellers are dis-
persed in various places; sometimes setting out their
wares in a manner sufficiently pleasing, although quite
unlike that in which shops are arranged in Europe.
The bazaars open shortly after sunrise and do not close
until sunset, at which time the shops are shut with
154 Persia, the Land of the Magi
wooden shutters and the gates of the bazaar barred and
locked.
Attached to the bazaars in the larger towns there are
usually several caravansaries for the accomodation
of traveling merchants. The chambers of these are
occupied both as offices for transacting business, and
also for shops; and the gay appearance which they
present, the bustle that prevails in the space before
them, and the variety of costume, manners, and lan-
guage, present a spectacle highly amusing as well as
interesting.
In the timber bazaar men are sawing boards with
long handsaws ; a little farther on carpenters are mak-
ing them into doors and windows; in the next shop
the blacksmith is blowing his bellows and welding
hinges and latches. The confectioner is seen pulling
taffy, the baker is kneading dough, heating his oven
and putting on pegs his sweet-smelling sangaks.
Scores of saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, silversmiths
and other artisans are busy at work. In another
bazaar are seen rows of hatters shaping kulos and
stretching them on moulds and exhibiting their stock
of different styles and thicknesses of fur, felt, broad-
cloth and lambskin. Eeach shopkeeper is a small capi-
talist and has a few apprentices, whom he feeds and
clothes, and each of whom hopes soon to set up a sep-
arate shop.
TAXATION, SECOND CAUSE.
The farmers and day laborers are in a most de-
plorable condition, because all the land in the kingdom
of Persia is owned by khans. Each khan owns from
Taxation, Second Cause 155
five to twenty-five villages. The peasants who live in
these villages first have to buy a lot from their khan
and build a house on it. Then every year they have
to pay tax on the house. If they keep cattle they must
pay tax on every cow, buffalo, mare and sheep. Every
house has to furnish to the khan annually two chickens
and a certain number of eggs and about two hundred
and fifty pounds of fuel, which must be of timber.
This is, of course, very scarce in most parts of that
dry, barren, mountainous country. Many of the peas-
ants have no timber at all and have to buy it to pay
their khan. The people in general burn dry manure
and kindle it with small twigs of brushwood. Each
adult man has to work regularly two days out of
every year for the khan, besides the occasional jobs
that he is required to do without pay. When a young
man married he must also pay a fee to his khan or
master. The khan furnishes the land, while the peas-
ants have to furnish everything else that is necessary
to produce and take off their crops of wheat, barley
or millet, and make the grain ready for use; then
they are allowed to keep one-third of it, while the
other two-thirds they must give to the khan for the
use of the land. Besides all these things they have
to pay the government taxes, which are not only dou-
ble, but sometimes more than double the amount they
have to pay to the khan.
Mr. W. Morgan Shuster says:
The general system of levying taxes in Persia is
practically the same to-day as it was in Biblical times.
The basis of land taxation is the tithe, or tenth part
of the product or crop. The revenues are not all col-
lected in cash, but a large part of them in kind; that
156 Persia, the Land of the Magi
is, the government demands and receives from the
landowners and peasants in Persia wheat, barley,
straw, cotton, oats, rice and other agricultural produce.
The principal effect of this archaic procedure is to make
it extremely difficult for the gpvernment to keep any
adequate system of accounts or to know with any
reasonable degree of accuracy what its revenues from
any given district, town or village should be during
the year. Furthermore, once in possession — through
its hundreds of different tax-collectors and sub-col-
lectors throughout the province — of the taxes in kind
which are due, the government is supposed to find the
means of transporting this produce, storing it safely,
and either converting it into money by sale or paying
it out in kind for the expenses of the government.
There has never been in Persia a tax-register or
,' Doomsday Book" which would give a complete,
even if somewhat inaccurate, survey of the sources
of internal revenue upon which the government could
count for its support. Persia is divided for taxation
purposes into seventeen or eighteen taxation districts
each containing a large city or town as its adminis-
trative center. For instance, the province of Azar-
bayjan, which is the most important and richest pro-
vince in the empire, is generally supposed to produce
a revenue in money and in kind, for the central govern-
ment at Teheran, amounting to about 1,000,000
tumans, or $900,000 a year. There was, during my
service in Persia a chief tax-collector, or pishkar, at
Tabriz, the capital of the province and second city of
importance in the empire. The province itself is
divided into a number of sub-districts, each in charge
of a sub-collector, and these sub-districts are in turn
Taxation, Second Cause 157
divided up into smaller districts, each in charge of
a tax agent. Within the third class of districts the
taxes are collected by the local town or village head-
man. The chief collector at Tabriz, for example, is
called upon to collect and place to the credit of the
central government at Teheran a given sum in money
and a given sum in wheat, straw, and other agricultural
products each year. Beyond a very definite idea in
the heads of some of the chief mustawfis, or "govern-
ment accountants," at Teheran as to what proportion
of these amounts should come from the first class of
districts within the province, the central government
knows nothing as to the sources of the revenue which
it is supposed to receive. Its sole connecting link
with the taxpayers of the province of Azarbayjan is
through the chief collector at Tabriz. The latter
official, in turn, knows how much money and produce
should be furnished by each of the sub-collectors under
him within the province, but he has no official knowl-
edge of the sources from which these sub-collectors
derive the taxes which they deliver to him. The
chief collector has in his possession what is termed
the kitabcha (little book) of the province, and each
of the sub-collectors has the kitabcha of his particular
district. These little books are written in a peculiar
Persian style, on very small pieces of paper, unbound,
and are usually carried in the pocket, or at least kept
in the personal possession, of the tax-collector. They
are purposely so written as to make it most difficult,
if not impossible, for any ordinary Persian to under-
stand them.
It is clear, therefore, that in Persia the central
government has but a meagre knowledge either of the
158 Persia, the Land of the Magi
revenues which it could expect to receive, or of the
justice or injustice of the apportionment of the taxes
among the people of Persia. Nothing is easier than
for a chief tax-collector to say, as the agent at Tabriz
constantly did during the time that I was in Teheran,
that, due to the disturbed condition of the province,
it had been impossible to recover the taxes and, having
said this, not to send them. The central government
might well know that these statements were false, and
that at least a portion of the taxes were being col-
lected, but it was limited in its remedies either to
discharging or imprisoning the collector upon this
justifiable but none the less general suspicion, or to
accepting his explanation.
One of the striking defects in the Persian taxation
system is that even the kitabcha are out of date and
do not afford a just basis for the levying of the duties.
Most of thern were prepared over a generation ago,
and since that time many villages which were pros-
perous and populous have become practically deserted,
the people having moved to other districts. Yet the
kitabcha are never changed, and a few hundred in-
habitants remaining in some village which has hereto-
fore harbored a thousand or more are called upon to
pay the same taxes which were assessed on the entire
community when it was three or more times as large.
In like manner, a village, which, when the kitabcha
were prepared many years ago, had only a few in-
habitants, is still called upon to pay, so far as the
central government is concerned, only the amount
originally fixed in the kitabcha, although the agent
who collects the taxes in the name of the government
Taxation, Second Cause 159
never fails to exact from each man in the community
his full quota.
The question of getting possession of the wheat, barley, oats, straw, cotton
and other agiicultural products which the government received in lieu of cash
was a much more difficult one. In the first place, taxes in this form were col-
lected principally in the smaller towns and outlying districts, more or les3
distant from the provincial centers. The products were compelled to pass
through so many hands and to be cared for and transported under such difficult
circumstances that, except in those provinces lying within a hundred miles
or so of Teheran, it was impossible to make any headway. If a few tons of
wheat or straw eventually reached a provincial center, it could not be trans-
ported to Teheran by telegraph, like money, and if put up at public auction,
the price obtained for it would be but a fraction of its value.
Indeed, in past years, the produce thus collected by the government in the
different districts has constituted one of the principal sources of government
graft. Instances have been reported to me where more than $100,000 profit
was cleared in a day or so by a fraudulent sale of the taxes in kind of a single
province.
When, in the fall of 191 1 , I took charge of the work of accumulating a reserve
supply of wheat and other grain in Teheran in the government storehouses,
in order that the price of bread might be in a measure controlled during the
winter, I found how difficult it was to handle this question, and it was only
by the most extraordinary methods that I was able to gather 5,000 to 6,000 tons
of wheat and barley.
Under the term maliat are grouped the internal taxes, comprising land
taxes, local municipal dues, and revenues derived from various other sources,
such as the Crown lands, mines and industrial enterprises. The taxes approx-
imate in many instances" our poll or head tax. There are also duties levied upon
the manufacturer and consumption of opium, upon lambskins and the entrails
of the same animal. A considerable revenue is also derived by the Persian
government from the consumption of wines, spirits and other intoxicants.
The use of intoxicants is, of course, forbidden by the Mohammedan religion,
and duties of this kind cannot, in theory, be imposed by the Medjlis, or by
official sanction of the Persian government. As a matter of fact, however, such
duties are both imposed and collected by the central administration, with the
double object of restricting the sale of alcoholic beverages and deriving a rev-
enue from them.
Outside the maliat the only other definite sources of revenue in Persia are
the customs duties, a small revenue from the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs,
and a small sum from the Passport Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The customs administration is in charge of some twenty-seven Belgian
employees whose chief, Mons. Mornard, with several assistants, was stationed
at Teheran. This administration also collected, through its agents on the
160 Persia, the Land of the Magi
frontiers, a certain proportion of the passport fees. The net receipts of the
customs during the Persian year of It-Il — which corresponds roughly to the
calendar year 1910 — weie about 3,400,000 tumans. (The tuman, while vary-
ing in value according to the exchange, is equal to about 90 cents in American
money.) For the two preceding years approximately (1909 and 1908) they
were about 3,185,000 tumans and 2,733,000 tumans, respectively. This entire
revenue, however, was mortgaged to the Russian and English governments
under a series of loan contracts and agreements which called for a minimum
annual payment amounting, at the time of the conclusion of the Imperial
Bank Loan of £1,250,000, to about 2,832,000 tumans.
When the Imperial Bank Loan went into effect, as the amortization did not
begin for five years, this sum was reduced by about 31,000 tumans a year for
the intervening period. Taking, therefore, the maximum customs revenues
collected in recent years as the basis of future collections, the Persian govern-
ment can only expect to receive from that important source of taxation about
568,000 tumans annually, and under the loan contract made with the Russian
government in 1910, these surplus Customs revenues are held by the Banque
d Escompte, a branch of the Russian State Bank in Teheran, for a period of
six months and only placed to the credit of the Persian Government twice a
year.
A common laborer receives about twenty-five cents
a day for his work, which makes it exceedingly hard
for him to support a family and pay the exorbitant
taxes. When the collectors come to a village many
of the men will run away because they have no money
at hand to pay the taxes. When a khan or lord
returns from a journey and comes in to visit his
village, the peasants all prepare to meet him at a
certain distance from the village. They take with
them an animal. At their meeting with their khan
they cut its head off in the road, then place its head
on one side of the road and its body on the other,
which means, "O master, may the lines of thine ene-
mies be thus broken or cut asunder before thee."
Upon his arrival his peasant subjects bring him eggs,
chickens and fruit, and he and his servants feast at
the expense of his poor, down-trodden subjects. Those
that are at all in good circumstances he will try to
find fault with and then punish them and fine them.
Shah Zada Kanim of Teheran.
The Khans 161
THE KHANS.
The khans or landlords of whom we have already
spoken hold in their possession almost all the lands
in the kingdom of Persia, besides controlling all the
government affairs. In consequence they are very
rich and live an easy life. Since their religion allows
polygamy, they marry several wives, whom they are
abundantly able to support, and spend much of their
time in harems with their wives. Whenever they
wish to divorce one and marry another they can do so
without any difficulty, for there is no disgrace whatever
attached to such an act. But it is considered a great
shame for a man to speak of any of his wives when in
company with other men. They may speak of every-
thing else, but never allow their conversation to turn
to their own domestic affairs. At their gatherings the
subject they best like to discuss is their religion, and
next to that is politics, which they talk about with
great enthusiasm. They know very little of history,
and their knowledge of art and philosophy is also
quite limited. What little they do know of these lat-
ter subjects they have learned from the Europeans who
are teachers and instructors in their principal cities,
and especially in their capital city, Teheran. They
have one weekly newspaper published in Teheran,
which they of course read. If anyone among them
can quote or recite poetry in the course of their con-
versation he is much admired, for they are great lovers
of poetry. In this respect they think the Persian lan-
guage excels every other tongue. So musical is it
and rich in idioms, rhymes and vowel sounds that
Mohammed once said that he would ask that their lan-
guage might be the language of Paradise.
162 Persia, the Land of the Magi
When a prominent man comes to visit certain per-
sons that are gathered together, if he is of higher
tank than they, as he enters they will all arise and
continue standing until he is seated. Then they re-
sume their seats and the visitor exchanges greetings
by bowing to each one present according to his rank.
Immediately after this a water-pipe for smoking is
presented to him. Their pipes are so arranged that
the smoke goes through water first, which purines it
before it is taken into the mouth. One pipe is used
for several persons. When one has finished smoking
he passes it to the one who sits next to him, and so
on until all have smoked. When all have finished
smoking, tea, coffee or fruit may be served. But sup-
pose a dinner consisting of rice is to be served, then
it is brought in on small copper trays. They begin
eating at once, using all five fingers in doing so. Of
course it is not at all uncommon among the people of
that country to eat with their fingers, but to see a
Mohammedan grasping whole handfuls and eating it
is quite a sight. They use all five fingers because they
say God has made them all and it is a sin to use some
and not all of them. When they have eaten a servant
will come with warm water, and, going to the person
of highest rank, will hold an empty vessel before him
in one hand, while with the other hand he will pour
water upon the hands of the guest. When the guest
of honor has thus washed his hands the servant goes
in the same way to another, and so on until all have
washed their hands. Rice cooked as the Persians cook
it is very much liked by the Turks and Arabs as well.
But they detest the Persian way of eating it.
Mohammedans who can read and write always have
The Khans 163
a pair of scissors in the ink-case that they carry with
them in their pockets. When they write a letter they
always trim the margins of it, for tradition is cur-
rent among them that if they did not cut the margins
of their letters their wives would be untrue to them.
Having put their letters into envelopes with their
edges properly trimmed, they always seal them with a
seal that most of them carry in their purses.
The American ex- Treasurer- General of Persia says: Another feature which
is very puzzling to the uninitiated is the— to foreigners — absurdly complicated
system of names and titles. Ordinary Persians have merely names, yet I
have known but very few who did not possess some form of title, and the failure
to know or recognize a man's title is not easily overlooked.
Imagine a gentleman in American political life deciding that he would adopt
and wear the title of "Marshal of the Marshals," or "Unique one of the King-
dom," or "Fortune of the State." Having duly taken such a title, and obtained
some form of parchment certifying to his ownership, he drops his real name and
is thereafter known by his high-sounding title. It is rather difficult for for-
eigners to remember these appellations, especially as a great many of them end
with one of the four words Mulk (kingdom), Dawla (state), Saltana (sov-
ereignty), or Sultan (soverign).
The present Regent was formerly known only by his title of Nasir-ul-Mulk.
(The Helper of the Kingdom) but since he has become Regent he is also referred
to by another title, that of Naibu's-Saltana, or "Assistant of the Sovereignty."
CHAPTER VII.
Men, Women, Girls and Boys.
THE cap commonly worn by the Persian is about
six inches high, has no brim and is black in
color. The shirt is of white cotton, open in front and
fastened with a button on the right shoulder. The
trousers are very much like the bloomers. They are
made of wool or cotton, usually black in color. The
coat is called arkalook. Some are long enough to
reach the ankle, while others reach about the middle of
the thigh. The sleeves fasten at the wrist by a button
and silk cord. There is a pocket on either side near
the belt. Various colors are worn. The gima or
overcoat is a heavy wool garment reaching to the
knee. It is opened in front and fastened with a num-
ber of buttons. The belt is a large piece of linen
folded many times around the waist.
It is a general custom to shave the head except
a small place on each side just over the ear and a
spot on the crown of the head. The hair-covered spots
are called zoolf and are dyed with henna. The most
religious men and the aged shave the entire surface
of the head. The young men shave the beard except
the mustache till the age of thirty years, after which
time the beard is clipped at the length of about one
inch till the age of forty. After the age of forty the
beard is never cut. The mustache is never shaved
by young or old. No man has been seen in Persia
with a smooth upper lip except Europeans. A man
(164)
The Persian Woman 165
who will shave his mustache is not a Mohammedan,
but an infidel; "not a man," but "a girl." The long
mustache is regarded as the glory of man.
THE PERSIAN WOMAN — (THE MOHAMMEDAN).
It is the policy of the Mohammedans not to open
too wide the eyes of women, consequently they have
no schools for girls. Among the higher classes even
very few teach their daughters to read, consequently
there are millions of Mohammedan women who, dur-
ing their whole lives, can never take up a book and
read, or sit down and write a letter to their friends.
Sometimes it happens that a woman's husband has
to reside for a time several hundred miles distant from
her. In such a case, should she wish to write to him
she will cover her face and go to a priest and tcil
him what she wants to have written to her husband.
He then writes the letter for her and she pays him
for it. When she receives a letter from her husband
she again has to go to the priest or some one else that
can read and have them read it for her. This shows
how very ignorant they are, and no wonder then that
they are so superstitious. When they go out it is
customary for them to cover their entire body with
a large blue wrap, while a linen veil with small holes
in it for eyes is worn over the face. These wraps
they wear are nearly all of the same color and the
same material, so that when they are out walking
many of them cannot be recognized by their own
nearest relatives even. Rich and poor appear just
the same. When they go to a party, or ladies' recep-
tion we might call it, they paint their faces with a red
166 Persia, the Land of the Magi
substance and blacken their eyelashes and eyebrows
with black antimony. Many of them color their fin-
gers and finger nails, and even their feet, red with
henna. They dye their hair also with henna and plait
it in many long braids. They wear necklaces and
chains around their necks and bracelets and glass ban-
gles on their arms. Quite a number of them smoke
pipes. Most of the ladies of the higher classes are
very idle. They invite each other to parties by turns.
Often ten or fifteen of them may be seen in the streets
attended by servants going to parties. Where women
are gathered no men appear, and where the men are
no women come. Fashions among Mohammedan
women do not change as they do among ladies of this
country. There a costume that was worn by a lady
twenty or more years ago is just the same as those
worn by their ladies of to-day. I dare say that I have
seen more changes of styles in the ladies' dresses of this
country during my short residence here than all the
records of Persia in that line could show, were such
records kept, from the time of the resting of the Ark
on Ararat to the present day. The Mohammedan
ladies cover their persons when they go out, but the
ladies of this country wear hats upon their heads in-
stead. Mohammedan women are never seen bare-
headed, and their voice must not be heard in the streets.
If two ladies wish to speak to each other in the streets
they must step aside where they cannot be seen by
the passers-by. Women of the poorer classes work
very hard. Peasant women rise early in the morning
and do their milking and general housework. Then
they, with their short-handled hoes, cut weeds in the
cotton fields. In the evening, when they come home,
The Persian Woman 167
there wil be seen on their backs a five-foot square
canvas filled with fresh grass for the cows and buffaloes
and their young. This they feed them in the evenings
so that they may have plenty of nice milk the next
morning. Widows do harvesting, weeding, sewing,
weaving and spinning. During wheat harvest they go
to the fields and glean, but they are seldom allowed to
follow the reapers. They glean after the wheat is
stacked; gathering the heads one by one, they take
them home and thresh them, and in this way add to
the store of grain for the winter. Dish washing is a
very small item with them, for they use very few
dishes. After some uieals there are none to wash,
they very seldom wash clothes either. When they
do a certain plant and the bark of the soap tree are
used for it and very little soap. It is the women of
the middle and some, too, of the lower classes that
have made Persia famous all over the world for her
elegant rugs, carpets and shawls. They spin the yarn
and dye it at home in the excellent colors that hold
their own as long as a piece of it remains. It takes a
long time to make these rugs, however, for every par-
ticle of the work is done by hand. It requires from
three to four months to make a single rug, but when
finished it is not only beautiful, but will last for over
twenty years, thus making Persian rugs celebrated not
only for their beauty but for their durability as well.
Mr. W. Morgan Shuster says:
During the five years following the successful but bloodless revolution in
1906 against the oppressions and cruelty of Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah, a feverish
and at times fierce light has shown in the veiled eyes of Persia's women, and
in their struggle for liberty and its modern expressions, they broke through
some of the most sacred customs which for centuries past have bound their
sex in the land of Iran.
168 Persia, the Land of the Magi
I had ample opportunity to observe the frequent manifestations of the
influence and high purposes of the Mohammedan women.
We of Europe and American are iong accustomed to the increasingly large
role played by Western women in business, in the professions, in literature,
in science, and in politics, but what shall we say of the veiled women of the
Near East who overnight become teachers, newspaper writers, founders of
women's clubs and speakers on political subjects? What, when we find them
vigorously propagating the most progressive ideas of the Occident in a land
until recently wrapped in the hush and gloom of centuries of depotism?
Whence came their desire to play a part in the political and social regeneration
of their country and their unwavering faith in our political and social insti-
tutions? That it came and still exists there can be no possible doubt, and
with it was born the discriminating intelligence which is as a rule acquired only
by long years of practical experience.
The Persian women have given to the world a notable example of the ability
of unsullied minds to assimilate rapidly an absolutely new idea, and with the
elan of the crusader who has a vision, they early set to work to accomplish their
ideals.
I had been fortunate enough shortly after reaching Persia to win the con-
fidence of the National Assembly, or Medjlis, a body which fairly represented
the hopes and aspirations of the great mass of the Persian people. This point
gained, I was soon made aware that another great, though secret, influence was
watching my work with jealous but kindly eyes. It was well known in Teheran
that there were dozens of more or less secret societies among the Persian
women, with a central organization by which they were controlled. To this
day I know neither the names nor faces of the leaders of this group, but in a
hundred different ways I learned from time to time that I was being aided and
supported by the patriotic fervor of thousands of the weaker sex.
A few examples may suffice. While sitting in my office one morning last
summer, I was told that one of the Persian clerks in the Treasury Department
wished to see me on an important matter. Information comes unexpectedly
and from such curious sources in the Orient that no offer can be safely rejected.
This young man came in. I had never seen him. We spoke in French, and
after receiving permission to talk freely, with many apologies he said that his
mother was our friend ; that she had commissioned him to say that my wife
should not pay a visit to the household of a certain Persian grandee, by whose
family she had been invited, since he was an enemy to the Constitutional
Government and my wife's visit would make the Persians suspect me. I
thanked him, and at the time did not myself know of the contemplated call,
but soon learned that it was planned, and, of course, advised against it. I called
the young Persian again and asked him how his mother knew of this purely
private social affair of my wife's; he said that it had been known and dis-
cussed in the secret society to which his mother belonged, and that it was
decided to warn me against it.
On another, more recent occasion, a large crowd of poor women came to the
The Persian Woman 169
Atabak Park to demonstrate against me because the Treasury had been unable
to pay the government pensions, on which there was over a million dollars
then due. The available funds had been necessary for the volunteer troops
who had been fighting against the ex-Shah. I sent, one of my Persian secre-
taries to see these women and ask who told them to come and make this demon-
stration. He returned mentioning the name of a famous reactionary grandee
who was at the time well known to be favoring the cause of Muhammad Ali.
I had them told that they would be given an answer on the following day if
they dispersed quietly, which they did.
I then sent to one of the women's societies a simple explanation of our
financial straits and the impossibility of paying these pensions because of the
needs of the constitution government, with the request that they prevent any
further agitation against the Treasury. Though it did not become possible to
pay the pensions, there was never another demonstration by women on this
account.
They have a saying in Teheran that when the women take part in a chuluk
(riot) against a cabinet of the government, the situation becomes serious.
With the dark days when doubts came to be whispered as to whether the
Medjlis would stand firm, the Persian women, in their zeal for liberty and
their ardent love for their country, threw down the last barriers which dis-
tinguished their sex and gave striking evidence of their patriotic courage.
It was rumored more than once that in secret conclave the deputies had decided
to yield to Russia's demands. The bazars and people of the capital were torn
with anxiety. What could the Nationalists do to hold their representatives
to their duty?
The Persian women supplied the answer. Out from their walled court-
yards and harems marched three hundred of that weak sex, with the flush
of undying determination in their cheeks. They were clad in their plain black
robes with the white nets of their veils dropped over their faces, Many held
pistols under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves. Straight to the Medjlis
they went, and, gathered there, demanded of the President that he admit them
all. What the grave deputies of the Land of the Lion and the Sun may have
thought at this strange visitation is not recorded. The President consented
to receive a delegation of them. In his reception hall they confronted him,
and lest he and his colleagues should doubt their meaning, these cloistered
Persian mothers, wives and daughters exhibited threateningly their revolvers,
tore aside their veils, and confessed their decision to kill their own husbands
and sons, and leave behind their own dead bodies, if the deputies wavered in
their duty to uphold the liberty and dignity of the Persian people and nation.
May we not exclaim: All honor to the veiled women of Persia! With the
constraining traditions of the past around them; with the idea of absolute
dependence upon the fancy and capiice of men ever before them; deprived
of all opportunity to educate themselves along modern ideals; watched, guarded
and rebuffed, they drank deep of the cup of freedom's desire, and offered up
their daily contribution to their country's cause, watching its servants each
170 Persia, the Land of the Magi
moment with a mother's jealous eyes, and failing not, even in that grim, tragic
hour when men's hearts grew weak and the palsying tread of the prison an d
its tortures, the noose and the bullet had settled on the bravest in the land .
MOHAMMEDAN GIRLS.
Every Mohammedan father considers the birth of
a daughter as a great misfortune, but comforts him-
self with the hope that his next child may be a boy.
If a second one happens to be a girl also, he will
upbraid his wife most severely; but no matter how
many girls he has, he must keep and take good care of
them all. At a very early age little girls collect num-
bers of pieces of different kinds of cloth, from which
they make dolls to play with. In that country there
are no ready-made dolls to be bought for children, so
they must make their own. In this way they learn
their first lessons in sewing. They also take old stock-
ings and ravel them and save the yarns to make balls
out of and then play games of ball upon the house-
tops in the fall of the year. Mohammedan girls learn
very early to paint their faces and darken their eyes,
eyelashes and eyebrows. In order to make their hair
very dark they dye it several times in succession with
henna. Then it becomes as black as desired and very
glossy, and they braid it in many long braids some-
times as many as fifteen. They also pierce each other's
ears with needles, afterward inserting thread greased
with butter to keep the holes open until they are
healed. These holes will then remain open for life
for the wearing of earrings. They also tattoo each
other's face and hands and sometimes their feet by
pricking a wound the size and shape they wish and
then filling it with black . antimony. They also will
Mohammedan Boys 171
remain black for life. Christians there do the same
thing. They also dye their hands and particularly
their finger nails red, and sometimes their feet also,
and in every way, little girl like, imitate the example
of their elders. They carry with them pocket looking-
glasses, but boys and young men never do so, for it
is considered a great shame for a boy to carry a mir-
ror, and if he were seen with one in his possession
he would at once be called a girl. Quite young daugh-
ters of the middle and some of the lower classes are
taught to weave rugs and carpets and to make some
ornaments for the house and some articles for their
weddings. Girls in general are strictly forbidden the
company of boys and are not even allowed to speak
to them. The boys and girls never mingle together,
but are always kept separated, girls associating with
girls and boys with boys. There are no occasions
whatever when both sexes may be gathered together.
MOHAMMEDAN BOYS.
The news of the birth of a boy is the source of
great joy and happiness to the father. When several
sons are born in succession their mothers receive much
praise and honor at the hands of her husband for these
great blessings.
At the age of five or six years they play games
with sling-shots and nuts instead of the marbles in
which the boys of this country delight. There are
no public schools in Persia except some parochial
schools in connection with the mosques or temples
and taught by Mohammedan priests. Very few vil-
lage boys go to school at all, but most of the boys who
172 Persia, the Land of the Magi
live in the cities go to school and learn to read and
write. When boys go to school they usually sit in two
rows. One row sits along each wall, books in hand,
and the other row along the opposite wall, while the
teacher sits in the center of the room. They do not
use chairs, but sit on the floor, which is covered with a
reed mating. When they are studying their lessons
they sway their bodies backward and forward as
though they were in a rocking chair, and read in a
sing-song style as though they were chanting, some-
times so loud that they can be heard for quite a dis-
tance. They have neither blackboards nor slates, but
use paper and reed pens for learning to write. They
put their left knee on the floor and set their right one
up for a desk to rest the paper on. They use the
Arabic alphabet and read and write from right to
left instead of left to right. They also begin their
books at the back, reading forward. In their schools
they learn to read some tales and traditions of the
Koran and some poetry, but do not study much mathe-
matics or geography or no science, but plenty of
astrology. When they have finished school they be-
come secretaries, shopkeepers, merchants, priests, jew-
elers and bankers.
CHAPTER VIII.
Matrimony.
THE population of Persia is made up of many dif-
ferent tribes, nationalities and religions, each of
which retains its own language, manners, customs and
peculiarities, and refuses to enter into any marriage
compacts with the others. At present there are living
in Persia Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and many
other tribes of different faiths, but none of them are
allowed to intermarry without exacting concessions
from the others that they are unwilling to make. As,
for instance, the Mohammedans, being the ruling class,
a Christian young man is not allowed to marry a
Mohammedan girl and at the same time remain a
Christian. For, although she and her parents may
be at heart converts to the Christian religion, they are
forbidden by law to change their faith; and, on the
other hand, should they be sincere in their religious
convictions they will know that according to the law
laid down in their Bible, the Koran, no faithful Mus-
sulman is allowed to marry an infidel or a Christian
unless he should become a follower of Mohammed.
Christian parents would never even think of giv-
ing their consent to the marriage of their daughters
to the hated, persecuting Mohammedans and, further-
more, they know that they should "not yoke them-
selves unequally together with unbelievers." Both
parties being equally strong in their faith, equally
(173)
174 Persia, the Land of the Magi
governed by their prejudices and equally unyielding,
such marriages are not allowed to be consummated.
Occasionally a Mohammedan will capture and carry
off a pretty girl among the Nestorian and Armenian
Christians, compel her to become a Mohammedan and
then marry her. With these few exceptions each sect
marries within its own bounds.
In some instances a stranger may almost gain the
consent of those concerned to marry a beautiful and
wealthy girl, but before the negotiations have been
completed her relatives will hear of it and propose one
of their sons as a suitor in order to keep her from
marrying a stranger. Such matches are made from
purely selfish motives and are seldom happy, hence a
saying in Persia, "When cousins marry they are never
happy."
In addition to the fact that people are usually
little acquainted except in their own villages, there is
another objection that weighs with them against hav-
ing their sons take wives from other villages situated
at any great distance from them, and that is the in-
convenience of making the journey to and from the
wife's home in a country where there are no railroads
and few wagon roads even. In case there is sickness
or death, or any occasion of great rejoicing, the young
wife would naturally want to visit her old home, and
then the journey would have to be made on foot or on
horseback. If the distance were too long to walk and
they owned neither horse nor donkey, the husband
would be compelled to hire them and thus involve
extra expense. These arguments may seem strange to
the young people of this country who make their own
matches without much consideration at all, except
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Matrimony 175
their own inclinations in the matter, but they must
remember that in Persia it is really the parents of
the contracting parties who make the matches, and they
weigh well the arguments pro and con; and, further-
more, the children are noted for their unquestioning
obedience to their parents.
The Mohammedans of Persia marry very young,
that is, from the age of twelve years and upwards, the
early age at which they reach their maturity and the
desire on the part of their parents to have them marry
as young as possible. Sometimes parents, in order
to perfect a friendship existing between themselves,
betroth their children while they are quite young, and
sometimes a man may notice that a certain family has
daughters who are good naturally, both capable and
obedient and at the same time healthy and beautiful.
He naturally enough wishes to secure the hand of one
of these girls for one of his sons, and in order to make
sure of this and to make it impossible for any other
man to ever set eyes upon her he gets her parents to
consent to having them betrothed while they are yet
children, and when they are grown the marriage is
consummated. All these motives are quite common
among all the nationalities that live in Persia.
After the engagement has taken place it is cus-
tomary among the Mohammedans for the affianced
boy and girl or their parents to choose each a repre-
sentative, who meet, or else the parents themselves
meet, and decide what or how much money the boy
shall pay to his intended wife if at any time after
they are married he may wish to put her away by
divorce. This money is called "kaben," and the
amount varies from ten to one thousand dollars, that
176 Persia, the Land of the Magi
depending largely upon the standing financially of the
contracting parties. The sum being fixed, the two
representatives or the parents of the engaged couple,
as the case may be, go to their priest and have him
write two letters of documental testimony, one each
for the betrothed couple, in which the fixed amount of
"kaben" is stated. These letters, called "kaben let-
ters," are kept by each party to the compact, and
whenever the husband grows tired of his wife or dis-
satisfied with her he simply pays her the stipulated
amount of "kaben" for her maintenance and is thereby
divorced from her.
This makes it exceedingly easy to be divorced, and
many evils result from it, so that the Mohammedans
themselves, experiencing the evil consequences of this
lax law, try to make divorces impossible by fixing as
"kaben" something that cannot be obtained. For ex-
ample, they sometimes fix upon eight or more pounds
of mosquitoes or house-fly wings as the "kaben" a
husband must pay his wife if he would divorce her.
This he, of course, cannot pay.
Sometimes, instead of what has just been men-
tioned, or a sum of money, or a vineyard, or a field,
they will write in the "kaben letters" that if the hus-
band would put away his wife after they are married
he must give her an arm or a foot. This also being
impossible to furnish, if the husband really wants
his wife divorced, he will so abuse her that she will be
obliged to say, ' ' Kabenem halal. Janim azad. ' ' Which
means, "I make my 'kaben' legitimate to you. Now
let my soul be free." She will then be divorced and
glad of her escape, even though she receives either
nothing or only a small sum of money.
Matrimony 177
A Mohammedan is allowed to marry four wives.
All four marriages are legal and all four of the wives
are considered to be on an equality with each other.
He is expected to love them all equally well, and can
divorce any one or all of them at his pleasure. Mo-
hammed, to check the frequency of this practice,
decreed that a wife divorced for three successive times
should not be taken back a third time by her husband
until she had been married to another man and
divorced by him. After that her first husband could
marry her again. These four wives just described
are all legal and the number of such that a Moham-
medan is allowed to have at any one time is limited
to four, but there is another kind of wife or concu-
bine called "sigha." Here I must explain what a
"sigha" is. A Shiite may, according to his law, con-
tract a temporary marriage with a woman of his own
caste for a fixed period of time, which may vary from
a fraction of a day to a year or several years. Prop-
erly speaking, it is the contract drawn up by the offi-
ciating mulla (in which both the period of duration of
the marriage, and the amount of the dowry — though
this last may be no more than a handful of barley —
must be specified), which is called "sigha," but the
term is commonly applied to the women with whom
such marriage is contracted. The children resulting
from it are held to be lawful offspring. To the
number of these that a man is allowed to have there
is no limit. He is allowed to have as many of them as
he wishes and can get. There are several causes found
in their belief for these plural marriages amoug the
Mohammedans. They believe it is a sin for any
woman to not be under the law of marriage, and
178 Persia, the Land of the Magi
according to their religion man is regarded so vastly
superior to woman that it is perfectly proper for him
to rule over many of them ; and dominant over these
reasons, whether they recognize it or not, no doubt,
the natural depravity of human nature, making laws
both in morals and in religion to suit its inclinations
and fitting its beliefs to its desires.
After these "kaben letters" have been written and
sealed by the priest a few days are allowed to pass
before the parents of the two contracting parties meet
to decide upon the amount of money to be furnished
by the bridegroom's father for the purchase of clothes,
"Parcha," for the bride and to appoint a day for the
beginning of the wedding. All this arranged, both
parties go to a city, where the bride's mother, at the
expense of the bridegroom's father, buys as much
clothing as she can for the bride. The reason the
bride's parents have for buying as much as possible
for their daughter is that they (but particularly the
mother) feel that their daughter is now going to a
strange place to live among strangers and that if she
should need more clothing in a short time after her
marriage she would be too bashful to ask for it. So
her mother, now that she has the opportunity, pro-
vides her with enough to make her feel happy at the
thought of her marriage and to last until she becomes
sufficiently acquainted in her new home to ask for
what she needs. After this the bride is busy making
her wedding clothes, or "Parcha." Sometimes she
calls in her friends to assist her, and at the end of two
weeks everything is ready. About two or three days
before the appointed day of the wedding the bride-
groom's father sends out his heralds to the surround-
w
Matrimony 179
ing villages and towns to invite her relatives and
friends to come to the wedding.
It is customary among the Mohammedans to pro-
vide the heralds with apples, roses, cloves and other
aromatic things. When they are going to invite a per-
son they first present him with an apple or a clove
and then extend greetings from the bridegroom's
father with much flattery and many embellishments,
ending with the statement that he sends his love and
asks you to come to the wedding. To this he may
reply, "Allah mubaraklasen," which means "God bless
it, we will try to come." Should the bridegroom's
father invite any one who is of higher rank than him-
self, such as an official dignitary, he would not send
heralds to such a one, but he would go himself, carry-
ing with him a present suited to his rank. This he
would present to him and in a dignified and appro-
priate manner invite him to the wedding. This per-
son of higher rank may then in turn send him a pres-
ent worth many times more than the one he receives
and in addition may send a couple of musicians to
the wedding to play in his honor.
Among the higher classes of Mohammedans who
live in cities and are very wealthy, sometimes the wed-
dings continue even over an entire week. They have
such long weddings because they are rich and in
order to add to their reputation of wealth and superior-
ity. Several male cooks are employed and every one
who is invited attends the wedding every day during
the whole time, and all are provided with good, sub-
stantial meals, consisting mainly of rice and meats.
Several couples of musicians are hired for the enter-
tainment of the guests. Also some gypsies to dance
180 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
and a number of jugglers of superior skill who make
sport and amusement for the crowd by their tricks of
extraordinary dexterity. Some story-tellers, singers
and players on different lands of musical instruments
are also employed for the occasion. Sometimes prom-
inent wrestlers are also secured. At the time appointed
for the wrestling match to take place crowds of people
flock to the place from every direction. The musicians
play exciting tunes while the wrestling continues.
Sometimes they are a very even match and continue
wrestling a long time before one of them succeeds
in throwing the other. Again it may happen that in
only a few minutes one may throw the other, where-
upon the victorious one receives the prize previously
provided by the groom's father.
These performances are all arranged as a kind of
program for each day and are given at some place
where every one has the privilege of coming to see
and hear them. In the evenings they have a dis-
play of fireworks for the enjoyment of the crowd.
Sometimes in the evening after the guests have had
supper they will select one of their number who is
eloquent and witty and elect him as president, "beek,"
and another they elect as head servant, "parash bashi,"
to execute the orders of the president, who is invested
with full authority to punish, fine or flog any one that
is present. He may command the head servant to
bring into his presence a certain man, then ask him
what his occupation is and all about his circumstances.
All this being reported to the president, he tries to
entangle the man, then holds him guilty and commands
the head servant to make him dance. If he can dance
he does so, otherwise he will be fined or punished.
Matrimony . 181
The fine is, of course, only nominal, and is seldom
really exacted. In this way and by a thousand other
tricks that they play on the bridegroom's relatives,
they increase the mirth of the wedding festivities.
On such occasions the women do not appear among
the crowds of men to see the performances. Usually
they cover themselves and go up upon the housetops
to see the outdoor exercises.
At weddings Mohammedan ladies and gentlemen
never mingle together, but have separate apartments,
one for the men and another for the women. No man
is allowed to enter the ladies' apartments except the
musicians, most of whom are Christians. They are
allowed to enter partly because they know that Chris-
tians are faithful and pure and can be trusted, and
partly because they have so little regard for musicians,
whether Christian or Mohammedan, that it is not
considered a shame for women to dance before them
as it would certainly be to dance before other men.
Even when the wedding continues for more than
a week the bride is usually brought to the house of
her father-in-law on the fourth day. No matter if
the bride and groom do live in the same city, and no
matter how close together their houses are, the bride
must still ride on horseback in going there because it
is customary to do so.
About the time the bride is going to ride on horse-
back the streets and housetops are thronged with
noisy, expectant spectators, while the firing of guns
and pistols and the notes of exciting music fill the
air. For this reason a very gentle horse is secured
for the bride, one that will not become frightened at
all this noisy tumult. In the afternoon of this fourth
182 Persia, the Land of the Magi
day all the musicians and a crowd of people, some
mounted on horseback, others walking, forming a
large procession, slowly proceed to the bride's home,
where they are welcomed upon their arrival by a volley
from the guns and pistols. A little feast is now had
at the bride's home, while the bride herself is in
another apartment with all of her female companions.
These lady friends dress her in an elegant new bridal
costume and cover her with two large square veils
called, respectively, "Charkat" and "Turma." Char-
kat is a scarlet veil which covers her entire body except
a small space in front, which is covered by a beautiful
thin white silken veil called "Turma." Those who
see her thus covered may suppose that she cannot see
at all, but that is not so, for she can see quite well
through the thin silk veil that covers her face. No
one can see any part of her except her feet, and when
she appears on horseback it is simply as a graceful
red figure. At this time the streets and housetops are
crowded with joyful spectators. When the bride is
ready the musicians play a sorrowful tune while she
bids farewell to her parents, who kiss her and pro-
nounce their benediction upon her and then weep after
she is taken and put upon horseback. As soon as she
is mounted the musicians change their tune from a
doleful to a happy one, while another volley from the
guns and pistols pierces the air. Her father-in-law
throws a handful of copper money upon her head to
show his wealth and liberality. It is customary among
the Mohammedans to send a lady called "Yedak"
along with the bride to take care of her.
The bride's belongings and gifts from home are
packed in a trunk and carried by a man on his back
Matrimony 183
after her. A head groom, " Jelodar," holds the horse's
bridle.
Some cousins of the bride and groom, or else some
of their faithful servants, accompany her on the way
to take care of her and see that no harm befalls her.
One man holds a mirror toward her face on the way,
which means may her way through life be bright.
In this way the procession moves on toward the
groom's home, while the way is crowded and the
housetops are covered with people. Some of them
throw candy and others throw raisins upon the bride's
head as she passes, to express their wish that she may
be very sweet. If the bride is coming from afar the
bridegroom and his comrades, mounted on horseback,
go to meet her. When they have approached to
within a stone's throw of her the groom kisses an apple
and throws it to his bride, or sometimes he may ride
up and put the apple into her hand. Immediately
after doing this the groom and his party quickly turn
and ride away as fast as they can. They are pursued
by some of the horsemen of the bride's party, who try
to catch the groom. Should any one succeed in doing
this he would receive a present in keeping with the
rank and circumstances of the bridegroom. In some
places the groom stands in front of the door or on a
balcony and when the bride has approached sufficiently
near he throws an apple to her.
After this the bride is taken to an apartment pre-
pared for her. During this fourth evening of the
wedding the bridegroom's father may receive some
presents from his friends. The feasting continues
through several more days, and at the end of the
previously fixed time the wedding is considered ended
and everything is quiet again.
184 Persia, the Land of the Magi
LIFE AFTER MARRIAGE.
A bride is not allowed to speak with her mother-
in-law or father-in-law or any member of the family
who is older than herself and very little with their
neighbors. Neither she nor her husband ever address
each other, except when quite alone, by their names.
Nor do they ever speak of each other in that way, but
use the personal pronoun instead, as "he" and "she."
At home a bride must have her head covered with
a veil about two square yards, one end of which cov-
ers her mouth close up to the nose and is called "yash-
mak." When she goes out her entire person must be
covered.
If asked anything by her father-in-law or mother-
in-law she must answer them either by signs or else,
if her husband or a small child is present, she may
speak to them and they repeat her answer to the per-
son who asked the question. Neither is she allowed
to eat with her father-in-law or mother-in-law, but
must serve them as a waiter, not that they regard her
as a slave, but because the customs of the country
require it. When they have finished eating she will
eat either alone or with some of the younger members
of the family. She is also allowed to eat with her hus-
band. In this way every bride must live for a few
years, after which she becomes more familiar and is
allowed to talk with a good many persons with whom
conversation was forbidden before. After several
years she may even speak with her mother-in-law, but
never with her father-in-law.
When a child is born to a newly-married couple, as
is usually the case within a year or two, if it hap-
Life After Marriage 185
pens to be a boy their joy is beyond measure, and the
young mother is greatly praised and considered a very
fortunate woman. Should the child be a girl the re-
joicing is not so great, but they say, "That is all right.
The next one will be a boy, and it is good to have a
daughter first, to grow up to help her mother take
care of her younger brothers and sisters." They take
just as good care of the girls, however, as they do of
the boys. On the same day in which a child is born
the mother or some other near relative of the child's
mother cooks several eggs in butter and takes them
to the younger mother, who eats some of them. The
services of a physician are seldom called for or needed
on such occasions. When a child is seven days old a
number of ladies come to visit the mother, some tak-
ing with them either a dish of food or a piece of cloth
about two yards long. The food is eaten by the
family. If the child be a girl they congratulate the
parent, saying, "May the foot of your maid be blessed,
(that is may her coming into the world be a blessing) ,
and may God preserve her to you. We hope the next
one may be a boy." Should the child be a boy, they
say, " May the foot of our young man be blessed. May
God spare him to you and make him like hair that is
never exhausted, but grows again when cut or pulled
out. May God not think one son enough for you."
CHAPTER IX.
Festivals, Beliefs, Mode of Burial, Superstitions,
The Dervishes, Charmers, and Kurds.
OF the festivals, Kurban Bairam, Oruj Bairam and
New Rooz are the most noted. Kurban Bairam
(the Festival of Sacrifice) comes on the 10th of Zil
Haja. This festival was instituted by Mohammed in
imitation of the great day of atonement on the 10th of
the seventh Hebrew month. It was in commemora-
tion of Abraham's offering of Isaac. New Rooz,1 or
new day, commemorates the entrance of the sun into
the sign of Aries at the vernal equinox. This is the
greatest festival observed by the Persians, and was
introduced by Jemshed, a Persian king who ruled
many centuries before the Christian era. It was he
who introduced into Persia the reckoning of time by
the solar year and ordered the first day of it to be
celebrated by a splendid festival which is to this day
observed with as much joy and festivity as Thanks-
giving Day or Christmas in this country. On this day
the bazaars in the cities are decorated in Persian style
and illuminated in a gay manner. The King marches
out of his capital attended by his ministers, nobles, and
as many of his army as can be assembled, remaining
out as long as he desires. Upon this day all ranks
appear in their newest apparel. They send presents
of sweetmeats to each other and the poor are not for-
1 New Rooz, or New Year, begins March 21 of the Christian era.
(186)
Beliefs 187
gotten. In the streets of the cities and upon the coun-
try roads crowds of people are seen, some going to visit
friends, others returning, carrying with them bundles
and packages of sweetmeats or presents. Indeed, this
is the day of joy and gladness throughout the kingdom,
a national holiday observed by all of the Shah's sub-
jects. They think of it with a great deal of pride and
look forward to it with the pleasantest anticipations.
BELIEFS.
The Mohammedans believe that God has sent one
hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets into the
world, of whom Mohammed is the greatest. Their
sacred book is called the Koran. There is a common
belief among Mohammedans that Mohammed's coffin
is upheld by God so it remains suspended in the air.
Some believe that magnets have been arranged so as to
hold the coffin in the air. The bones of the dead
should be conveyed to the tomb of the prophet. I will
try to tell you a few things about the Mohammedan
superstitions and customs. First I will speak of their
funeral ceremonies. They are enjoyed by their
religion to carry the bones of their dead if possible to
the tomb of their holy prophet, so that he on the last
day may quicken their bones into life. So when any
one dies, they ornament his body by painting the eyes
and brows black, and the hands and feet red. For as
the deceased is to appear before God he must be beau-
tiful and clean. Then they deposit their dead in brick
vaults until their blood is stiffened, after which they
are put in separate houses. They have a ceremony of
distributing money to the poor. The bones of the dead
188 Persia, the Land of the Magi
are separated from the flesh, dried, put in a box, and
sent to the tomb of the prophet. The poor people,
however, cannot afford to send the bones of their dead
friends to the holy tomb. As a rule the rich people
only do this. Their cemeteries must be in inhabitable
parts, in the middle of the city, or else by the wayside,
so that every one passing by may say, "God grant you
rest and give you part with Mohammed in heaven."
Thus miserable is the life of the poor benighted Moham-
medans. During life they cannot attain assurance
of salvation and after death disgusting ceremonies are
performed upon their bodies. Let us thank God for
His Gospel and for His Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
SUPERSTITIONS.
They cut off their finger nails, kiss them and throw
them behind them. They say that on the day of judg-
ment God will ask them, "Where are your nails?" and
they will say they are coming behind. You should not
whistle at night, they say, for the devils will gather
and will strangle you. Some of them purport to have
been at the wedding of devils or genii, and to have
listened to the ravishing music, and to have been
sumptuously entertained. The people are exceedingly
superstitious. ' ' Do not give warm bread to dogs, ' ' they
say, "they will go mad. Do not strike a boy with a
broomstick. He will not grow any more." Each year
is symbolized by some animal and named from that
animal. Should the year be named for a fog it indi-
cates a bad year; but for a bear, a good year, much
blessing; a mouse, not good, only damaging; a hen,
good, fruitful.
The Dervish 189
THE DERVISH.
There is a class of Mohammedans called Dervishes.
They especially devote themselves to religious works.
They go about in the villages preaching. The poor
people look upon them as holy men of their religion
They believe evertyhing they tell them. They tell for.
tunes. They begin by admonishing thus: "Do no-
throw stones because they may hit the eyes of people.
Do not strike the head of a horse, for your property will
be destroyed. The horse is your property. On the
property of others do not look with the evil eye, for it
is a sin. Obey those above you." Then they say:
"You are expecting something from afar to come to
you. Hold fast to your hope and you will receive it.
Your second object is very difficult, for there are many
against it. But hope and you will attain it." Finally
after talking about various matters he will allude to
something that is in your mind, and you will feel
certain that he knows your thoughts. The supplicant
does not believe that the dervish knows by means of a
good, but by an evil spirit. If you ask a Mohammedan
how a dervish knows secret things he will answer, "He
knows through devils or genii." Thus on the one
hand they regard him as a holy man and on the other
as a master of devils or genii. If a woman should be
attacked with any serious disease, she would go to the
dervish for help. He will first place a vessel with a
little water in it. Then he will bind together a lot of
needles. He will kindle a small fire. He will cover
his head with a large sheet. The ignorant woman will
then come under the sheet. The dervish will then
utter his incantations in Arabic, calling on devils to
190 Persia, the Land of the Magi
come. He will then rub the needles together very
skilfully so they make a noise like the chirping of
birds. The woman is led to think this is the voice of
devils. Then he will say, "Inhale the smoke and you
will recover. You will recover if you will pray look-
ing at the rising moon, and practice hospitality." If
you ask the woman, "What did you see under the
sheet?" she will say, "I saw devils." "How did they
look?" She will say, " I heard their voices only." The
dervish may perhaps only give her a prescription and
will say to her, "Sew this on your right arm and the
evil will not come near you." The poor woman is left
in perplexity. She hopes to recover, but she only
grows worse. Another woman comes to him with her
trouble and asks the cause. He looks in his book and
says, "the power of evil has touched you." He writes
a prescription and says, "sew this in your clothes and
the power of evil will not come near you any more.
After a while you will have a dream. You will see a
man come to you and give you a red apple as a sign
that after a time you will become a mother. On your
child's face will be a birth-mark. His name you will
call Mohammed." She will say, "Look again and see
whether it will live or die." He will say, "It does not
state, but I hope it will live." She will expect this
year and next year to dream that dream. But she does
not. Another woman will say, " My husband does not
love me." And the dervish will tell her to take a lock
of her husband's hair while he is asleep and also a lock
of her own, burn them together and put the ashes in a
little water and give him to drink in the dark and he
will like her. Another will say that she has the fever
and ask him to cure her. The dervish will utter his
The Charmers — Sorcerers 191
incantations in Arabic and will tie two strings with
seven knots to her arms, one to each arm, and will say,
"Now I have tied the fever; it will trouble you no
more." She will have the string on her arm sand hope
that to-day or to-morrow the fever will leave her; but
no, she only grows worse. Another woman will say,
"My son and daughter-in-law do not like each other.
What shall I do?" The dervish will give her a pre-
scription and say, " Bury this in a warm place near the
oven. Strike upon it when it is hot; they will love
each other." To another he will say, "Bury the pre-
scription under the door hinge, and as long as the door
shuts and opens he will love you." These prescrip-
tions are triangular in form. They work forty days,
the dervish says. After that they lose their potency.
THE CHARMERS — SORCERERS.
The serpent charmers repeat in Arabic some incan-
tation and the serpent is obliged to come out of his
hole. The charmer will touch it, put it in his bosom or
wind it about his neck. Let it be ever so poisonous
it will not bite him. The people regard such a man
as holy. The ignorant Mohammedans go to him when
they have the fever. The charmer will get a serpent,
kept for the purpose, will hold it up to the face of the
sick man and say, "Draw blood." The serpent will
strike the nose of the sick man but it will not infuse
any poison. The charmer may at times, in order to
show his power, take a knife, open the mouth of the
serpent, strike its teeth and say, "Cast posion." The
serpent will do so. The charmer will lick it off from
the knife, spit it out, and say, "You see it does not
hurt me." He will heat a piece of iron to white heat,
192 Persia, the Land of the Magi
put it to his tongue and say. "You see it does not hurt
me." They often go to far-off villages when they wish
medical aid. They expect the charmers or doctors
to be better because far off. They always have to pay
more money then. The doctor writes three prescrip-
tions and says, "Sew one in your hat, hang another in
a tree in the wind." The third is written in the form
of a ladder. This is a significant omen. The ladder is
used as a bier on which the dead are carried to the
grave. They wait and hope to recover. ' ' This charmer
is very good," they say. Others die — money spent to
no purpose. "Had we bought medicine he might
have recovered, ' ' they say. ' ' Now we have three pieces
of paper. No good." In a Mohammedan legend it
is related that one man made himself appear sick.
They sent for the holy man. "I will make my will
before I die," says the sick man. The charmer or
priest came, sat down by the side of the man and asked
him how he was. No answer. The sick man rises
in his dreams and says, "The devil says, 'kill the
minister."' Then the minister says, "You should
never listen to the devil. He is very bad. He deceives
you." Then after a while the sick man sits up in his
delirium and says, "The devil says, 'You will die,
give your horse to the minister.'" And the minister
says, "Yes, my son, at times you may listen to the
devil. He is good." The sick man arose and dealt
the impostor a tremendous blow with his fist, and
drove him out.
THE KURDS.
The Kurds are the wildest tribes of nomads in
Asia. During the past five years they have attracted
the attention of the civilized world by their horrible
-
ti
The Kurds 193
massacres of the Armenians. The original stock from
which the Kurds came is not known, but it is believed
that in their blood is a mexture of Chaldean, Baby-
lonian, Assyrian and Arabian, and that the wildest
characters in all these nations formed the tribe of
Kurds. To-day the Kurds number about 3,000,000.
Their dwelling place is in the Kurdistan mountains,
part of which lies in Persia and the rest in Turkey.
They are nominally subjects to these two countries,
but practically they are a band of outlaws and beyond
the control of their government.
Some of them are farmers and shepherds, but most
of them are robbers. If a Kurd has not killed six or
seven men, he is not respected and is considered
unworthy to live. My father once told me a story
which he heard from one of the Kurdish chiefs. He
said he had a son who was very bashful, and this was
considered quite a disgrace, for one of these chiefs is
always made leader in case of war. It would also be
impossible for him to marry one of the best girls unless
he was a successful thief and robber. He carries with
him a gun and a sword, and no matter how bloody and
evil the deed he commits may be, it only adds respect
and honor to his name.
The Kurdish hordes differ little in the essential
points of character from the other native inhabitants
of Persia. Although there are several cities in their
country, the military clans are not often found to
inhabit them, nor do they assemble in large encamp-
ments except for purposes of war. Indeed, whether
in tents or in houses, they seldom dwell together in
larger numbers than are comprised in a few families.
To this custom, so adverse to the progress of improve-
ment, some refer the fact that their condition and
194 Persia, the Land of the Magi
manners have experienced so little change during
more than twenty centuries. Neither civilization nor
conquest has ever penetrated the wilds of Kurdistan.
The inhabitants have preferred their barbarous free-
dom to the refined enjoyments which they saw to be
so frequently accompanied with softness and slavery.
In Senna, Solymaneah, Betlis, and other towns, there
are mosques and priests, and in these the written law
is administered as in other parts of Persia. But in
general they continued to be governed by the usages
of their forefathers; yielding implicit obedience to
their chief, which he repays by protection, exercising
his authority on all occasions with strict regard to
their customs and prejudices.
As has been already said, they have little regard to
the ordinances of religion; and in like manner their
allegiance to the king is extremely slight and doubt-
ful, being generally measured by their power of resist-
ing the royal authority.
The Wallee of Ardelan keeps a costly court at Senna
in princely state, and maintains a considerable military
array. The great delight of the Kurds is in arms and
fine horses, in the management of which they excel.
Colonel Macdonald Kinneir gives a lively account of
the appearance of these warriors: "When a Kurdish
chief takes the field, his equipment varies little from
that of the knights in the days of chivalry; and the
Saracen who fought under the great Saladin was
probably armed in the very same manner as he who
now makes war upon the Persians. His breast is
defended by a steel corslet inlaid with gold and silver;
while a small wooden shield, thickly studded with brass
nails, is slung over his left shoulder when not in use.
The Kurds 195
His lance is carried by his page or squire, who is also
mounted; a carbine is slung across his back; his
pistols and dagger are stuck in his girdle, and a light
scimitar hangs by his side. Attached to the saddle,
on the right, is a small case holding three darts, each
about two feet and a half in length; and on the left,
at the saddlebow, you perceive a mace, the most deadly
of all his weapons. It is two feet and a half in length;
sometimes embossed with gold, at others set with
precious stones. The darts have steel points about
six inches long, and a weighty piece of iron or lead at
the upper part to give them velocity when thrown by
the hand."
There is a wonderful thing about the Kurd women.
In all their ignorance, they make the most beau-
tiful rugs and shawls in the world, which we find in
their filthy houses. We cannot imagine what filthy
homes they have. Half of them are usually built
underground. I have been in homes where there were
about eight horses, three cows, one hundred sheep and
nearly two hundred chickens, and in the center of this
large room is the mother and her dear children sitting
around the fireplace. In the cold weather they have
a round bench which they put on the fireplace and
spread a large quilt over it. They all lie around this
and use the quilt for a covering for the night. Their
language is mixed old "Parsee," which the Eng-
lish people call fire-worshipers. Their religion is
Mohammedan, but they are very ignorant and super-
stitious. One of the missionaries was traveling there
and met a shepherd and asked him if he ever prayed.
He replied that he did not know how to pray. The
missionary asked if he would like to learn. He replied
196 Persia, the Land of the Magi
that he would. The missionary tried to teach him
the Lord's Prayer, but he could not commit it. A
happy thought came to the missionary. He thought
he would name some of the sheep with the words of
the Lord's Prayer. Soon the shepherd committed it.
A year or two later the missionary met the same shep-
herd and asked him if he still remembered the Lord's
Prayer. He replied that he did. After repeating it
with only one mistake, the missionary complimented
him and said, "You have omitted 'Thy kingdom
come.' " He replied, " Yes, 'Thy kingdom' died a year
ago." Such a kindly spirit will teach truth even to
the dull mind of a shepherd.
CHAPTER X.
The Alkoran — Its Doctrine and Precepts. The
Mohammedan Priesthood, Mosque, and Its
Services.
ALKORAN is the Mohammedan's Bible. The
word "koran" means to read in Arabic, reading,
or, rather, that which ought to be read.
The Koran contains 114 sura, or chapters, and
each chapter is named from the chief subject treated
therein, as "Praise," "The Light," "The Woman," etc.
Next after the title, the head of every chapter, except
only the ninth, is prefixed with the solemn form Bis-
millah, in the name of the most merciful God. The
Koran is universally allowed to be written in the dia-
lect of the tribe of Koriesh, which is the most noble
and polite of all the Arabian language. The style
of the book is very beautiful and fluent, especially
where it imitates the prophetic manner and Scripture
phrases. The general design of the Koran seems to
be this: To unite the professors of the three different
religions, idolaters, Jews and Christians, in the knowl-
edge and worship of one eternal, invisible God, by
whose power all things were made and those which
are not. He is the Supreme Governor, Judge and
absolute Lord of all creation, and to bring them all to
the obedience of Mohammed as the prophet and
ambassador of God.
The great doctrine of the Koran is the unity of
God, and to restore which point Mohammed pretended
(197)
198 Persia, the Land of the Magi
was the chief end of his mission. The fundamental
position on which Mohammed erected the superstruc-
ture of his religion was that from the beginning to the
end of the world there has been and forever will be
but one true orthodox belief, consisting , as to matter
of faith, in the acknowledging of the only true God
and the believing and obeying such messengers or
prophets as He should from time to time send to reveal
His will and law to mankind, of whom Moses and
Jesus were the most distinguished till the appearance
of Mohammed, who is their seal (soul), no one to be
expected after him. The Mohammed was the author
of Koran, but, however, the Mohammedans absolutely
deny that Koran was composed by the prophet him-
self, or any other for him. They believe it is of divine
origin, is eternal and uncreated, remaining in the
very essence of God; that the first transcript has
been from everlasting by God's throne, within, on a
table of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in
which we also recorded the divine decrees, past and
future; that a copy from this table in one volume on
paper was, by the ministry of the angel Gabriel, sent
down to the lowest heaven in the month of Ramadan
by parcels, some at Mecca and some at Medina, at
different times during the epoch of twenty-three years.
The first parcel that was revealed is generally agreed
to have been the first five verses of the ninety-sixth
chapter after the new revealed passages had been
from the prophet's mouth taken down by his scribe;
then they were published by his followers, several of
whom took copies for their private use, but the greater
number got them by heart. The originals, when
returned, were put into a cask, observing no order
u
The Alkoran 199
of time, for which reason it is uncertain when many
passages were revealed. When Mohammed died
he left his revelation in the same disorder as I have
mentioned. The present order of the Koran was com-
piled by the Abu Bekr, the successor of Mohammed.
The Koran is the Mohammedan's rule of faith and
practice. It is held in great reverence and esteem.
They dare not so much as touch it without being first
washed or legally purified. They write these words
on the cover or label: "Let none touch it but they
who are clean." They read it with great care and
respect. They swear by it, consult it on their weighty
occasions, carry it with them to war and knowingly
suffer it not to be in the possession of any of a different
persuasion.
To this religion he gives the name of Islam, which
means resignation to the services and commands of
God. The Mohammedans divide this religion into two
parts — Imon and Din — meaning faith and practice.
They teach also that it is built on five fundamental
points, one belonging to faith, and the other four to
practice. The first is that confession of faith which
I have already mentioned, that there is no God but
the true God, and that Mohammed is His apostle.
Under this they comprehend six distinct branches, viz :
1. Belief in God.
2. In His angels.
3. In His Scriptures.
4. In His prophets.
5. In the resurrection and day of judgment.
6. In God's absolute decree and predetermination,
both good and evil.
200 Persia, the Land of the Magi
The four points relating to practice are :
1. Prayer.
2. Alms.
3. Fasting.
4. The pilgrimage to Mecca.
Others precepts and institutions of Koran are pro-
hibition to drink wine, under which name all sorts of
strong and inebriating liquors are comprehended.
Of the morals, polygamy is allowed by Koran,
the holy day Friday, or sixth day, is observed. The
Mohammedans do not think themselves bound to keep
their day of public worship so holy as Jews and Chris-
tians are obliged to keep theirs. They are permitted
by Koran to return to their employments after divine
service is over. Yet the most devout disapprove the
applying of any part of that day to worldly affairs,
and require it to be wholly dedicated to the business
of the life to come.
The life that is to come shall be spent in Paradise
or heaven. In Koran Mohammed declares that there
are seven heavens. Above all is the heaven for
prophets, martyrs, those who die in battle for
religion's sake, and for angels. Chief among all in this
heaven is Mohammed, mediator between God and
believers. The other heavens will be inhabited by
believers, the degree of piety and integrity determining
to which heaven they shall go.
Heaven is pictured as an earthly paradise. There
are beautiful gardens, vineyards, green pastures, fresh
fountains, the river of living water, many bathing
pools of glass, a palace of marble and glass, orna-
mented with pearls and diamonds. The trees bear
fruit continuously, some in blossom, others ripe with
The Alkoran 201
fruit. Prominent are the palm, and grape, fruits which
were favorites of Mohammed while on earth. Choice
fruits grow in abundance and on low trees, so that a
man can stand on the ground and eat of the fruit.
Each vine bears 7,000 clusters of grapes, and every
grape contains 7,000 gallons of juice. The pastures
are generally green, and in them grow many thousand
varieties of flowers of exquisite odors. There are no
animals in heaven, as they are not needed. There
will be no dogs, cats, swine, nor unclean birds, as
eagles, hawks and buzzards. But there are millions
of brilliantly plumaged birds whose melodies continu-
ally ring through heaven. The walls and gates of
heaven are as described in the twenty-second chapter
of Revelation.
Believers will spend eternity in the joys of lux-
urious life in paradise, amidst blooming gardens and
beautiful virgins. To an ordinary believer will be
given 72 houries or female angels. These creatures
are described in the Koran as being fair, with rosy
cheeks, black eyes and in blooming youth. Such beauty
the eyes of men have not seen on earth. Martyrs and
more pious men have more than 72 houries, the num-
ber increasing in proportion to the believer's promi-
nence. The believer will sit under a fragrant tree in
a golden chair, or lie on a golden cot, while birds over-
head sing wonderfully sweet. His fairies will be about
him and offer him choice unfermented wine in a golden
cup on an emerald tray.
Saints will live nearer to Allah than ordinary
believers, and will have conversation with Him. No
people can enter heaven unless they be Moslems.
The gate to heaven is reached by a bridge . This bridge
202 Persia, the Land of the Magi
is as narrow as a hair, and only believers can walk
on it. When a soul approaches the gate it finds Fatima,
the daughter of Mohammed, standing there. She asks
him to recite the creed: "Allah is the only God, and
Mohammed is His prophet." If repeated, the soul
enters heaven; if not, with a breath Fatima blows him
off the bridge and he falls into hell, the regions below.
HELL.
As there are seven heavens according to degree of
integrity of believers, even so there are seven hells.
Gehenna is beneath the lowest part of the earth and
the seas of darkness. It is a place of fire, as a great
ocean without limits. It burns with brimstone and
like materials. There are thousands of terrible flames
and bad smells. Satan is there with infidels, Chris-
tians, Jews, fire worshipers and apostate Mohamme-
dans. The torture of the latter will be worse than the
torture of the others. There are in hell thousands of
wild animals, as lions, tigers, vipers and serpents.
Every lion has in his mouth 7,000 teeth, and every
tooth has 7,000 stings or poisons. So with the tigers
and serpents. Every viper has 7,000 tails, and on every
tail 7,000 stingers, and every stinger contains 7,000
kinds of poison. The common drink of the inmates
of hell is poison drunk from iron cups. Their meals
will be the flesh of animals and even their own flesh.
Satan and his servants will torture them with spears,
and swords of iron. There will be no rest for them,
day or night. Men and women will gnash their teeth
against their own children. All will be weeping, curs-
ing and blaspheming. Hell is surrounded by walls of
iron, over which none can escape.
Hell 203
"The secret of success for Islam is in the sword,"
said Mohammed. His faith teaches that one drop of
blood shed for Allah, or God, avails more than prayer,
fastings and sacrifices. One night spent in the holy
armies of Islam will be rewarded by Allah more than
human reason can think. Every one that falls in battle
is received in heaven as a martyr and rewarded for his
devotion to the faith. After Mohammed's death his
successor became aggressive as his force grew stronger.
His command to his armies was: "Before you is
paradise, behind you is hell." Inspired by this belief,
the wild and superstitious Arabs rushed forward and
subdued Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The churches
in the large cities of these lands were converted into
mosques for the worship of Mohammed. In 668 and
717 they beseiged Constantinople and 707 subdued
the northern provinces of Africa. In 711 they estab-
lished a Calif ate in Spain and Cordova. The Arabs
crossed the Pyrenees and made the threat that they
would soon stable their horses in St. Paul's Cathedral
at Rome. But they were defeated by Charles Martel
in 732. Ferdinand drove them out of Spain into
Africa. In the East the Moslems, had in the ninth
century, subdued Persia, Afghan, Beloochistan, a large
part of India, also a large part of Brahmanism and
Buddhism. The Turks were conquered in the eleventh
century; the Mongols in the thirteenth century. Con-
stantinople fell into the hands of the unspeakable
Turks in 1453. The magnificent church of St. Sophia,
in which Chrysostom preached the Gospel with a fiery
tongue and many church fathers chanted in it the true
Word of God, was converted into a mosque. To-day
the Koran is read there instead of the Gospel. The
204 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Sultan occupies the throne of Constantinople and calls
himself the "shadow of the Almighty," boasts in his
fanatical religion and scorns Christian powers. On the
other hand, the Christian powers look at him with the
cold spirit of Christianity, but I believe the time will
come and is near when the Gospel will be preached
again in the church of St. Sophia instead of the Koran.
THE PRIESTHOOD.
Among the priesthood the Mujtahid is the highest
order, and this order is divided into four degrees,
the Naibetemam is the chief of the first degree and he
resides at Karbala, the Sacred City. He is the repre-
sentative of Mohammed. His position is the same
as that of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.
Archmujtahid is the second degree. It is composed
of four priests, who reside in four places known as
Erawanee, Sherazee, Khorosomee and Isphahomee,
and one of these officials succeeds Naibetemam at the
death of the latter. Eulama is the third degree. The
members of this degree are very numerous in my
native city, Urmia, of 30,000 inhabitants. There are
five or more priests of this degree. They are executors
of civil and religious law. No man can be a judge
or lawyer unless he is a Mijtahid. These priests judge
such cases as the division of property, for which they
charge a fee. Where the interested parties are rich,
they are frequently required to appear before the
priest several times before a decision is given, that he
may charge them a larger fee. They charge large
sums of money for writing legal documents in the
transference of land or other valuable property. These
The Mosques and Their Services 205
men usually are very rich and have from two to four
wives. Every young widow who has beauty and riches
is sought in marriage by some of these priests.
The fourth degree is called Mollah. This office is
the same as the Protestant elder. The Mollah visit the
sick, call on families, teach them the Bible and tra-
ditions and conduct funerals. Some of them teach
children, who come to them each day for instruction.
One dime a month is the tuition fee. In the fall his
parishioners who are able to, give him a collection of
provisions for the winter, such as grapes, apples, wheat,
fuel, etc. He is highly respected in the community
and is always invited out to a feast in some private
home on holidays. He writes documents for the
people, for which he gets from two to ten cents, but
the fee is often two or three eggs or a basket of fruit.
This is the poor Mollah's only income.
THE MOSQUES AND THEIR SERVICES.
The mosque is the Mohammedan holy temple or
church. There is one in most every community, which
has been erected by lords or rich people. In the cities
they have some magnificent mosques built of stone
and brick. A mosque is divided into several small
rooms and two large halls. One hall is for winter
service, the other for summer. The summer hall is in
the front of the building and is enclosed with three
walls. The front being open, the pillars that guard
the entrance to this hall are adorned with artistic
designs. On the interior walls of the mosque are
inscribed in large letters numerous verses from Koran.
There are no chairs in the room, but the worshipers
206 Persia, the Land of the Magi
sit on the floor, which is covered with mats made of
reeds.
There are no bells on the mosque, but a man, some-
times a Mollah, ascends to the roof of the mosque
three times daily — morning, noon and night — and in
a loud voice calls men to prayer. The call is made
in the following words :
"Allah akpur," meaning "Almighty God." He
repeats it three times, then continues: "Ashudduin-
nah laitta naella Allah," meaning "I testify that thou
art the only God," is repeated twice. " Ashudduinnah
Mohammed russool Allah," meaning "I testify that
Mohammed is the prophet of God," is repeated twice.
"Hayya alal falah," "Come here and be forgiven."
"Hayya alal Kher ul amal," " Come and hear, do good
work," repeated twice, and is closed by "Allah akpur,"
repeated three times.
The mosque is open day and night and men may
come in to prayer at any hour. Friday is their Sun-
day. No man is chastised if he works on Holy Friday,
but all faithful Mohammedans attend public service
on that day.
The services in the mosques of the cities are con-
ducted by Majtahids, or high priests. The priest
starts to the house of worship when he hears the voice
of the Mahzin calling to prayer from the top of the
mosque. He is accompanied by eight or ten servants,
besides numbers of worshipers who may fall in line
with holy men. When he enters the assembled wor-
shipers rise to their feet and remain standing until the
priest has seated himself in the pulpit. He begins
with great ostentation and in an impressive voice to
read or repeat Koran. He will chant traditions of
Moslem's Private Prayer 207
the prophets and martyrs and relate pathetic stories
of the noble sacrifices of departed heroes of the faith.
His charming tones and utterances have much effect
on his audience and men weep and beat their breasts.
Moslem's private prayer.
Prayer carries the Mussulman half way to heaven.
There is no salvation by grace or by atonement. God
forgives his sins only on the condition of good works.
Hence it is an obligation with every one to pray. The
Moslem always washes with cold water before prayer.
He will take a jar of water and say "Bism Allah,"
meaning "In the name of God and to His holy service."
Then dipping his right hand in the water, he rubs
his arms from the wrist to the elbow. With the tips
of his fingers he will wet his forehead and inside ears.
Then the surface of his feet. He spreads his rug.
Upon it he puts his seal of Mecca. The seal is made
of clay and is the size of a dollar. On it are the words
"There is no God but God." Facing the Mecca he
stands erect and raises both his hands to his head,
kneels to the ground, puts the front of his head on
the seal, then kisses it. Rising to his feet, he puts
both index fingers in his ears, and also makes numerous
other gestures. He keeps this up for half an hour
or more. They have one prayer which is always
repeated. The have three stated seasons daily for
prayer — morning, noon and the evening. The place
for prayer is the mosque, but few of the Moslems pray
there, as they prefer praying in the open"square, streets
and in meadows before mosques, where they will be
seen by more men and can better show their piety
208 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and integrity. A prayer often prayed by faithful
Moslems is a foolish and selfish one and is entirely
against the spirit and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It reads, "Allah, I seek refuge to thee from Satan and
all evil spirits. O Lord of all creators, destroy all
heathen and infidels, even those who believe in the
Trinity, the enemy of our religion. O Allah, make
their children orphans, their wives widows, and defile
their abodes. Give their families, their households,
their women, their children, their race, their daughters
and their lands as a gift to the Moslems, thy only
people. O Lord of all creatures." I believe you
all will agree to say that every word of this prayer
is against the blessed teachings of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, who said: "Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you
and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you."
While prayer carries a Mussulman half way to
heaven, fasting carries him to the gate and alms admit
him.
So fasting and alms are the keys to Paradise and
every man must practice it. The Mohammedans have
only one month for fasting. The same is called Rohad-
han (April). They will fast from one hour before
sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. During this
time they abstain from eating, drinking and smoking.
The poor class work till noon, but the rich do not
work at all. The most of the day is spent in reciting
Koran, praying and sleeping. They do not converse
much in the day, but wear a sad countenance. They
do not allow a Christian to speak to them. At the
morning and evening a cannon is fired for the begin-
The Place of Sayyids in Mohammedanism 209
ning and ending of the fast. The night is changed
to a feast. They eat and drink and converse till one
hour before sunrise. In this month many of them die
from too much eating.
The Mohammedans say they go to heaven, for its
gates open during this month for Mussulmans. Dur-
ing this month much alms is given. They believe
fasting and giving secure absolute forgiveness for sins
and admittance to heaven.
THE PLACE OF SAYYIDS IN MOHAMMEDANISM.
Mohammedanism is divided into two great sects,
viz., Shuts and Sunnites. While both hold Mohammed
to be the prophet of God and the saviour of mankind
and Koran to be the word of God, written by the
finger of God and given to Mohammed through the
mediation of Gabriel, they differ in their belief as to
who are the true successors of Mohammed. Shuts
claims that Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of Moham-
med, was Caliph, while Sunnites contend that four
disciples of Mohammed were his true successors.
This difference led to war and bloodshed and gave
rise to a permanent division in Mohammedanism.
The Mohammedans in Persia belong to the Shuts.
They receive Ali as the Caliph after Mohammed. The
descendants of Ali are called Sayyids or prophets.
They are held in high esteem and rank in Persia.
The Sayyid's dress distinguishes him from other
men. He wears a green turban and girdle, so that
he may be readily known. The Sayyid's turban is to
him more precious than a kingly crown. It is the
sign of glory. The girdle is a symbol of strength.
210 Persia, the Land of the Magi
If a common man should presume to wear these
articles of dress he would be severely punished.
In the assemblies of lords and influential men the
Sayyid occupies the chief seat and is always served
first. All men fear and honor him. He is never smit-
ten or reviled. If a Christian should lift his hand
against him, that hand must be amputated from the
body. The Sayyids are exempt from legal punishment.
If a Sayyid should kill a common man it would be
impossible to punish him with death for his crime. The
governor cannot punish him, for it would be a sin
against God; for they believe that God created all
men for the sake of Mohammed and his descendants.
A Sayyid's punishment must come through the leader
of that order.
CHAPTER XL
The Arabs and Mohammed, the Shiite Moslem's
Mu-HAR-RAM.
THE Arabs and the country they inhabit, which
they themselves call Jizirat al Arab, or the Pen-
insula of the Arabians, were so named by Yarab, the
son of Kahton, the father of the ancient Arabs, where
some ages after dwelt Ishmael, the son of Abraham
by Hagar.
The limits of Arabia comprehend all that large
tract of land bounded by the river Euphrates, the Per-
sian Gulf, the Sindian, Indian and Red Seas and part
of the Mediterranean. It is divided into five provinces,
viz., Yaman, Hejaz, Tihama, Najd and Yamama. Its
chief cities are Mecca and Medina.
The religion of the Arabs before Mohammed was
chiefly gross idolatry, the Sabian. There were also
some Magians, Jews and Christians. The idolatry of
the Arabs as Sabians chiefly consisted in worshiping
the fixed stars and panets and the angels and their
image. The Arabs acknowledged one Supreme God,
the Creator and Lord of the universe, whom they called
Allah Taala, the most high God, and their other deities,
who were subordinates to Him. The form of address-
ing themselves to him was this :
"I dedicate myself to thy service, 0 God; I dedicate
myself to thy service, 0 God. Thou hast no com-
panion except thy companion of whom thou art absolute
Master."
(211)
212 Persia, the Land of the Magi
The Magi religion was introduced from Persia by
frequent association with the Arabians.
The Judaism from Jews, who fled in great numbers
into Arabia from the fearful destruction of their
country by the Romans, and made proselytes of
several tribes.
Christians had likewise made a very great progress.
These were the principal religions which were found
among the ancient Arabs.
The Arabians before Mohammed were, as they yet
are, divided into two sorts: those who dwell in cities
and towns and those who dwell in tents. The former
lived by tillage, the cultivation of palm trees, feeding
of cattle and the exercise of all sorts of trades, par-
ticularly merchandizing, wherein they were very emi-
nent. Those who dwelt in tents employed themselves
in pasturage and sometimes in pillaging of passengers.
They lived chiefly on milk and flesh of camels. They
often changed habitations, as the convenience of water
and pasture for their cattle invited them.
The accomplishments in which Arabs valued them-
selves were these :
1. Eloquence.
2. Hospitality.
3. Expertness in the use of arms and horseman-
ship.
These were not their only good qualities, but they
are commended by the ancients for being most exact
in their words and respectful to their kindred.
As the Arabs had their excellences, so have they
their defects and vices, as they admit that they have
a natural disposition to war, bloodshed, cruelty and
rapine, being so much addicted to bear malice.
The Arabs and Mohammed 213
The sciences chiefly cultivated by Arabians before
Mohammed were three :
1. Geneaology and history.
2. Astronomy and astrology.
3. Interpretation of dreams.
This was the state of the ancient Arabs before
Mohammed, and is known as the state of ignorance,
and it was under these disadvantages that Mohammed
came into the world, but he soon surmounted them
all. His father, Abd- Allah, was the younger son of
Abd Almotalleb and, dying very young, left his widow
and infant son in very poor circumstances, his whole
substance consisting of five camels and one Ethiopian
slave, so Mohammed was left in the charge of his
cousin, Abu Taleb, which he very affectionately did,
and instructed him in the business of a merchant, and
to that end he took him with him into Syria when he
was only thirteen years of age, and afterward recom-
mended him to Khadijah, a noble and rich widow, in
whose service he behaved himself so well that she
soon raised him to an equality with the richest in
Mecca by making him her husband. After he began
by this advantageous match to live at his ease it was
that he formed the scheme of establishing a new
religion, or, as he expressed it, a replanting of the only
true and ancient one, professed by Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the prophets, by
destroying the gross idolatry into which the generality
of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the
corruption and superstitions which the later Jews and
Christiansi had, as he thought, introduced into their
religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which
consisted chiefly in the worship of one only God.
214 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
Whether this was the effect of enthusiasm or only
a design to raise himself to the supreme government
of this country I will not discuss, but the latter is the
general opinion of Christian writers, that it was the
desire of satisfying his sensuality. So Mohammed
was certainly himself persuaded of his grand article
of faith, which in his opinion was violated by all the
rest of the world, not only by the idolaters, but by
the Jews, who are accused in the Koran of taking Ezra
for the Son of God, and also by the Christians, who
rightly worshiped Jesus as God, as those who super-
stitiously adored the Virgin Mary, saints and images.
But whatever were his motives, he certainly had
personal qualifications which were necessary to accom-
plish his undertaking. He is commended by his fol-
lowers for his religious and moral virtues, as his
piety, veracity, justice, liberality, clemency, humility,
abstinence. His charity in particular, they say, was so
conspicuous that he had seldom any money in his
house, no more than was sufficient to maintain his
family, and he often spared even some part of his own
provisions to supply the necessities of the poor.
He had indisputably a very piercing and sagacious
wit, and was thoroughly versed in all the arts of
insinuation. It is also said that he was a man of
excellent judgment, a person of few words, cheerful
temper, pleasant in conversation and of polite address.
He spent many days and nights in the caves of
Mount Hira near Mecca in meditation and prayer. His
zealous efforts to establish his faith brought a return
of the violent convulsions and epileptic fits of earlier
days, and his enemies said he was possessed with
demons. He started preaching to the ignorant classes
The Arabs and Mohammed 215
of Arabs, teaching them that there was only one living
God, who created heaven and earth and all mankind.
In A. D. 610, his fortieth year, he claimed to have
received a call from the angel Gabriel while in a trance
in Mount Hira, directing him to say: "In the name
of God." Many times after this first meeting he com-
municated with Gabriel in these caves and saw many
visions. Once when almost discouraged he waited for
further enlightenment in visions to qualify him for
the duties of his office as prophet — if not to commit
suicide — when suddenly Gabriel, at the end of the
horizon, appeared, saying: "I am Gabriel and thou
art Mohammed, the prophet of God; fear not." After
this assurance he commenced his career as a prophet
and founder of a new religion. His doctrines were
gathered from three religions — the Jewish, Christian
and Arabic. He taught that there is one only Allah,
Almighty God, ever-present and working will. Hence-
forth the revelations came from time to time, some-
times like the sound of a bell, conversing with him;
at other times Gabriel came down and spoke to him.
For the first three years he worked among his family.
Khadijah was his first believer. His father-in-law,
Abbubaker, Omar, a young, energetic man, his daughter
Fatima, his son-in-law AH, and other faithful follow-
ers to the number of forty, were the first disciples of
this new religion, and were very influential in spread-
ing the same. Then he publicly announced that he
had a command from God and had been given the
divine office as prophet and law-giver. As his notoriety
spread, pilgrims flocked to Mecca and he preached to
them, attacking the idolatry of Mecca. When his
enemies demanded a miracle from him, he responded
216 Persia, the Land of the Magi
by producing the Koran leaf by leaf as occasion
demanded. He provoked persecution, and civil war
followed. In A. D. 622 he was forced to flee for his life
from Mecca to Medina, a distance of 250 miles. This
flight is called Hegira, meaning the flight (July 15,
622), from which the era of Islam begins.
In Medina he was generally accepted as a prophet
of God. His method was at first toleration. He said:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion," but after-
wards said: "All infidels must accept one God and
Mohammed, His prophet. If men refuse, kill them,
plunder their property, and their wives and daughters
are for you." The wild Arabs were killed by this com-
mand. His followers were all robbers except some of
the leaders. In 624, with an army of 305, all citizens
of Medina, he gained a victory over his strong enemy,
Koreish, whose army was double the size of Moham-
med's. By other engagements he rapidly conquered
Jews and Christians. After one battle 600 Jews were
massacred at his order and their wives and daughters
were made slaves. In 627 he triumphantly entered
Mecca, and in 630 he demolished 360 idols; then
Koreish, a leading tribe, shouted, "There is but one
God, and Mohammed is His prophet." Ten years
after Hegira, with 40,000 Moslems, he made his last
journey to Mecca, and subdued all Arabia. Upon
returning to Medina, he died in his home and in the
arms of Ayesha, his favorite wife, June 8, 632, at the
age of sixty-three years.
When on his death-bed and suffering extreme pain
and anguish friends expressed surprise that a great
prophet should suffer so. He called their attention to
the fact that one prophet of olden times was eaten
The Shiite Moslem's Mu-Har-Ram 217
by worms, while another was so poor as to have only
a rag to cover his shame, and stated that a prophet is
not rewarded here, but hereafter. His last words were
a prayer for the destruction of all Jews and Chris-
tians because they were so hard to convert. He prayed :
"O, Lord, let not my tomb be an object of worship.
Let there remain only one faith, that of Islam, in all
Arabia. Gabriel, come near me; Lord, pardon me,
grant me joy, accept me into thy companionship on
high," etc.
Mohammed did not claim the power of perform-
ing miracles, but since his death some of his follow-
ers have attributed miracles to him, such as, when
walking the streets, trees and stones would salute him;
he caused a flood of water to spring up from dry
ground; he rode on his horse Borak through air from
Medina to Mecca, Jerusalem to Paradise and to the
heavenly mansions and again came back to Mecca.
The only miracle Mohammed himself claimed was the
revelation of Koran.
the shiite Moslem's mu-har-ram.
When Mohammed was dying he announced, against
his will, that Abbubaker, his father-in-law, was his
rightful successor. It was his real desire to be suc-
ceeded by Ali, his son-in-law, but he saw that Abbu-
baker had a much wider influence than Ali. In the
next generation after the four Caliphs, or chief dis-
ciples of the head of the faith, and Ali had died, there
arose divisions in the church. Hassan and Hussein,
sons of Ali, claimed to be the rightful Caliphs after
the death of Abbubaker. They contended that their
218 Persia, the Land of the Magi
grandfather had made Abbubaker caliph because he
was old and faithful, and, therefore, that that office
should not descend to his children. A great body of
Moslems followed them. One of them, Hassan, was
too timid to push his claims. His death came soon
from a dose of poison administered to him by some
of his enemies. The energetic young Hussein con-
tinued to assert his claims, but he had no army. With
seventy men, mostly relatives, he started for a forti-
fied city, but was surrounded by the army of Yazid.
Taking shelter in a cave beneath a huge rock, Hussein
and his followers defended themselves for three days
and three nights. At last they were driven to despera-
tion by hunger and thirst. Drawing their swords they
came out and met an army of several thousand men.
After a brief contest Hussein and his men were over-
come. Hussein was captured alive. The Shiite Mos-
lems of Persia say that when Hussein was taken before
the chief captain for execution, he was very thirsty
and asked for a drink of water before being beheaded.
But this request was not granted and he was executed
with his thirst unquenched. In memory of this tragedy
there may now be seen walking the streets of Persian
cities every warm summer day men carrying a bottle
or jar of water and crying aloud: "Sakkaw, sakkaw"
(their name) and giving water to anyone who may
be thirsty, in the name of Hussein. Moslems take
this drink in a cup carried by the sakkaw, but a Chris-
tian must furnish his own cup or drink from the palms
of his hands. If offered one or two cents the sakkaw
will take it, but he never asks for money.
The killing of Hussein and his followers occurred
in the month called Muharram. This entire month
The Shiite Moslem's Mu-Har-Ram 219
and ten days of the following month are observed as
a time of lamentation for Hassan, Hussein and their
followers who were slain. During this period every
man, woman and child of the Shiite Moslems is under
obligations to wear black garments. The last ten days
of Muharram are observed in a fanatical spirit as a
revival of religion. This period is called Ashara,
meaning ten days. The first seven days are for prepa-
ration. The mosques will be crowded with men and
women. The Mas-ya- Khans, or revivalist priests, are
in charge of these services. Followed by a large pro-
cession this priest goes to the mosque and, mounting
a high pulpit, preaches to large crowds. His general
theme is tragic tales, stories of martyrs, the manner
of their death, their last utterances and the wailing
and moaning of their friends and relatives. Often in
the concluding words of a pathetic story the entire
audience, sometimes numbering thousands, will be
deeply moved and, slapping their foreheads with the
palms of their hands, will cry aloud to give vent to
their emotions. The mosques cannot accommodate all
the worshipers during this period, so some parts of
a street are laid with carpets and rugs, where the
people sit while listening to preaching.
The last three days are the most solemn. All the
stores of the city are closed and no business of any
kind is transacted. At an early hour on these days
the whole population, except the old men and women
who stay at home to take care of young children,
gather around the mosques. In and near the mosque
a national and a religious emblem are carried on a
pole by strong men. These are quite heavy and the
standard-bearers change every few minutes. Headed
220 Persia, the Land of the Magi
by these emblems the large crowd, often numbering
3,000 to 6,000 people, will march through the streets.
Each company visits from one mosque to another.
Passing through the streets the men bearing the
national and religious emblems are followed by musi-
cians playing mournful dirges with such instruments as
drum, flute and cymbals. Surrounding the musicians
are hundreds of men marching with bared breasts,
shouting "Hassan, Hussein, Hassan, Hussein," and
pounding upon their breasts with bare hands. Follow-
ing them is another band surrounding a Sayyid, a
descendant of Ali, and all of them are shouting "Hassan,
Hussein" and beating their breasts. Next in the pro-
cession comes a band of ascetic dervishes, wearing
neither hat nor shoes nor other garment than a pair
of pants, when the weather is mild. Holding in their
hands a whip about two feet long and one or two inches
in diameter, made of small iron strands, they beat their
bare shoulders and back with the same as they march,
shouting, "Yahu, Yamalhu," which are names of their
god. Following comes another band of dervishes bear-
ing in one hand a knotty club, to which are fastened
nails, bits of brass, etc. With the other hand they
beat their breasts as they repeat the cry of the pre-
ceding band. These worshipers torture the flesh by
beating it thus and bruise it black. The procession is
completed by a crowd of boys and girls and women
following. The marching commences early in the
morning and continues till eleven, is taken up again at
two in the afternoon and continues till six o'clock.
The greatest demonstration of all occurs on the last
of the ten days. At sunrise the crowds of former days
gather around the mosques to start again on the
The Shiite Moslem's Mu-Har-Ram 221
marches. On this day there are also fresh recruits. In
front of the mosque is a band of fifty to one hundred
men and boys of thirteen to forty years of age. They
are bareheaded and uniformed with a white shirt over
the other clothing that reaches to the feet. Held in the
right hand before each one is a two-edged sword. The
left hand rests on the belt of the soldier next in front.
The leader standing at the head of the band recites
their creed: "Allah is God and the only God.
Mohammed is the prophet of God and Ali is His vicar."
All the band repeats this creed. Immediately the
leader smites his own brow with his sword, and this
act is imitated by all his followers. Soon the faces and
white clothing of the men are red with blood. Bleed-
ing, they go marching through the streets shouting:
"Hassan, Hussein," and waving their swords in har-
mony with step and voice. Their route can often be
traced by drops of blood in the streets. When zeal
reaches a high pitch the blows are repeated on their
brows. Fearing that these zealous young men may
lose all regard for life and inflict upon themselves
mortal blows, relatives and friends frequently walk
near with long sticks in hand to hinder them from
such deeds.
This band first marches to the courthouse to be seen
by the governor. Every band has a right to ask the
governor for the freedom of some one prisoner, and
these requests are always granted, no matter what the
crime of the imprisoned. These bleeding men are as
martyrs, and would go direct to heaven if death resulted
from these self-inflicted wounds. After the parade
ends the bloody shirts of these men are divided among
their friends and kept as holy relics. The men who
222 Persia, the Land of the Magi
compose these bands are usually the most wicked
in the community. They go through these ceremonies
for the remission of sins and to redeem themselves in
the eyes of others; but they usually continue in their
wickedness as time goes on.
Another important feature of the last day in the
procession is a richly decorated hearse containing a
coffin, in which lies a man representing the corpse of
Hassan. Beside the coffin sits a woman, the widow
of Hassan, dressed in sackcloth and her head covered
with mud. Following the hearse are three beautiful
Arabian horses, finely saddled and harnessed, with
a flake of gold embedded with pearls on their fore-
heads. On two of them are seated two girls repre-
senting the daughters of martyrs; the tops of their
heads are covered with mud and straw. The third
horse is riderless, to remind one of the missing martyr.
Following next is a large number of women, boys and
girls and some men, all with yokes about their necks,
their hands chained behind them, seated on horses and
mules. These are to represent the captives taken by
Yazid, the captain who killed Hussein. Near them are
men in helmets to represent the soldiers of Yazid.
They are armed with whips and are driving these
women and children of Moslems into captivity. Next
in line may be seen false heads, raised aloft on poles,
representing Yazid, Mawya and other ancient enemies
of Hussein. Boys and men gather around them, spit-
ting at and reviling them. Gathered, all the sword-
bearers, chain-strikers and the many men beating their
breasts, they made a great crowd and tremendous
noise. The bystander is struck with horror when two
fanatical bands meet, each trying to excel the other in
Singers 223
self-mutilation. Then are frightful gashes cut; the
thumping of chains on bruised bodies and the pounding
of breasts is heard louder than before. With an
upward sweep of the right arm every man cries in loud
voice: "Ya Ali, Ya Ali," as the companies pass each
other.
At 4 p. m. on the last day the marching ceases, and
the throng halts by some tents pitched in the middle
of a public square. The population of the city is gath-
ered round about. There is not even standing room
for all, and hundreds or thousands of people are gath-
ered at windows or on the housetops near by. Perhaps
20,000 people are present. The sword and chain
strikers approach the tents and with a shout of victory
utter the names of Ali, Hassan and Hussein, then set
fire to the tents and burn them and their contents to the
ground. They imagine that their enemies were in
those tents, and now that they have been destroyed, it
is a time of great rejoicing. The marching clubs dis-
band and the active ones are soon found at the mosques
drinking sharbat, a sweet drink, as a sort of reward
for performing their religious duties.
SINGERS.
The closing hours of the last day are given to the
singing of poems by the best musicians, gathered at
the mosques. The singing band usually numbers from
twenty to thirty men. They sing poems about the last
utterances of Hussein and other martyrs, or about the
sayings and weepings of the relatives of these martyrs.
It is not very safe for Christians to mix with the
crowds on these last days, unless in company with
224 Persia, the Land of the Magi
some honest Mohammedan. If one is seen laughing
at the ceremonies he is apt to be beaten by some one
whose fanatical spirit is thoroughly aroused. Our mis-
sionaries sometimes ask the privilege of using a roof
by which the procession passes. This is always granted.
The three nights are considered holy and the most
religious Moslems do not retire until midnight. Ser-
vices are held in the mosques, reciting traditions.
The audience is composed of men only. It would not
be safe for the women to attend, owing to the wicked-
ness of the men. The audience is frequently deeply
moved by the tragic tales and weep angry tears. They
curse and revile their enemies and their enemies' wives
and daughters. The last night is called watch night,
and many Moslems do not even slumber during the
night. It is holy night, in which Hussein and other
martyrs were buried in their tombs. It is a dishonor
and even a sin for them to go to bed without medi-
tation on their prophets. In the mosque services the
people shout: "O Hassan and Hussein, let my soul be
a sacrifice for thee." They believe the observance of
that night is absolute remission of sins ; that the gates of
heaven are open to all believers for the sake of mar-
tyrs. Some pious Moslems preserve the tears of that
night in small bottles, as it is believed they will cure
all diseases when applied to the brows of sick men.
These tears are prized as a most holy relic. The Mus-
sulman says: "Even David the prophet believed in
the efficacy of tears when he wrote in the Psalms,
' Put thou my tears in thy bottle, O God.' "
On the last night many Shiite Moslems walk to the
mosque in bare feet, wearing sackcloth. Often a gov-
ernor or lord, accompanied by 40 to 100 servants, all
Singers 225
barefooted, will be seen slowly treading their way
toward a mosque. Wearied by the great exertions of
the past ten days, it is difficult to keep awake during the
last night ; so many men will be seen coming out of the
mosques during the night to walk around and keep
awake. At daybreak these solemn ceremonies end.
In all these ten days of special religious services not
one word is said in condemnation of sin. There is no
moral teaching. Nothing is taught about man's
duty to God, or his duty to fellow-men. Nothing is
said to strengthen his character, to make him a purer
and nobler man. The only teaching is in tragic tales
of martyrs; the only inspiration is hatred to enemies.
Compare this religion with that of our blessed
Saviour, Jesus Christ, the God-man. He gave His life
for all nations, even His enemies. He calls mankind to
sacrifice, but it has a practical object : That they may
be purer and live a higher and nobler life. Christian-
ity is as the sun shining in its fulness, while Moham-
medanism, in its ignorance and superstition, is as the
darkness of midnight.
CHAPTER XII.
Babism.
THE Mohammedan religion is to-day divided into
about fifty different sects. This division greatly
weakens it. The Bab sect was started by Mirza
Mohammed Ali of Shiraz, a city in which reside the
most intellectual and poetical scholars of Persia. He
began to plan the new religion at the age of eighteen,
but did not reveal it until he was twenty-five years old.
The foundation of his faith was this: Mohammed,
like Christ, taught that the latter days would be a
millennium. They have a tradition that when all the
prophets had died, or had been killed by their enemies,
a son six years of age was, by the direction of Allah,
hid in an unknown well. He was to remain there
until the time for the millennium. It was believed
that he would be the ruler of the Mohammedans in
these last days.
He was to lead both his victorious armies and con-
quer all the world, and Islam would become the uni-
versal religion. Mirza Mohammed Ali based his
doctrine on this theory, but changed it somewhat. At
the age of twenty-five he made several pilgrimages
to shrines, such as Karballa, Mecca, and Medina, and
then returned to his native town of Shiraz. At first
he began to teach his doctrine to his confidential
friends and relatives until it was deepened in their
hearts. And then he began to preach to the public
that he was Mehdeialzaman.
At first but little attention was paid to the new sect
(226)
Babism 227
by the government or clergy, but towards the end of
the summer of 1845, they began to be alarmed at its
rapid spread, and took measures to stop its progress.
The Bab, who had just returned from Mecca to Bushire,
was brought to Shiraz and placed in confinement.
His followers were prohibited from discussing his
doctrines in public, and some of the more active were
beaten, mutilated, and expelled from the town. In
the early summer of 1846, however, a plague broke out
in Shiraz, and, during the general consternation caused
by this, the Bab effected his escape, and made his way
to Ispaham, where he was well received by Minuchihr
Khan, governor of that city, who afforded him pro-
tection and hospitality for nearly a year.
Early in 1847 Minuchihr Khan died, and his suc-
cessor, anxious to curry favor with the government,
sent the Bab, under the care of an escort of armed
horsemen, to the capital. So serious were the appre-
hensions already entertained by the government of
a popular demonstration in the prisoner's favor, that
his guards had received instructions to avoid enter-
ing the towns by which they must needs pass. At
Kashan, however, a respectable merchant named Mirza
Jani, who subsequently suffered martyrdom for his
faith, prevailed on them by means of a bribe to allow
their prisoner to tarry with him two days. At the
village of Khanlik, also near Teheran, a number of
believers came out to meet the Bab. Amongst these
was Mirza Huseyn, AH of Nur in Mazandaran, who,
at a later date, under the title of Beha'u'llah ("the
Splendor of God"), was recognized by the great
majority of the Babis as their spiritual chief, and who,
till his death on May 16, 1892, resided at Acre, in
228 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Syria, surrounded by a band of faithful followers and
visited yearly by numbers of pilgrims.
The late king, Mohammed Shah, and his chief min-
ister, Haji Mirza Aghasi, dreading the effect likely
to be produced in the capital by the presence of the
Bab, determined to send him to the fortress of Maku
on the northwest frontier of Persia, without allowing
him to enter Teheran. Thither he was accordingly
conveyed; but at Zanjan and Milan he received a
popular ovation, and even at Maku it was found
impossible to prevent him from receiving occasional
letters and visits from his adherents. Nor did the
plan of transferring him to the sterner custody of
Yahya Khan, governor of the castle of Chihrik, near
Urumiyye, meet with much better success in this
respect.
Meantime, while the Bab was occupying the weary
days of his imprisonment in compiling and arranging
the books destined to serve as a guide to his followers
after the fate which he had but too much cause to
apprehend should have removed him from their midst,
his emissaries were actively engaged in propagating
his doctrines. Fiery enthusiasm on the part of these
was met by fierce opposition from the orthodox party,
headed by the clergy, and it needed only the confusion
and disorder introduced into all departments of the
empire by the death of Mohammed Shah (October 5,
1848) to bring the two factions into armed collision.
The strife, once kindled, rapidly assumed the most
alarming proportions, and the reign of the present
king. Nasiru'd-Din Shah was inaugurated by formid-
able insurrections of the Babis at Yezd, Niriz, Zanjan,
and in Mazandaran. Of the two latter risings I shall
Babism 229
have to say something when I come to speak of the
places at which they occurred. For the present it is
sufficient to state that, after the rising in Mazandaran
had been suppressed with great difficulty and the
sacrifice of many lives, a revolt, which threatened to
defy the united efforts of the whole Persian army,
broke out at Zanjan. Thereupon, by the advice of
Mirza Taki Khan (at that time prime minister to the
young king), an attempt was made to strike terror
into the hearts of the insurgents, and to fill their minds
with despair, by the public execution of the Bab, who,
though innocent of any direct share in the plans or
councils of the rebels, was regarded as the source
from which they drew the enthusiasm which inspired
them with a resolution so obstinate and a courage so
invincible.
Accordingly, orders were depatched to Tabriz to
bring the Bab thither from his prison-house, and, after
the form of a trial, to put him to death. After endur-
ing all manner of insults at the hands of the govern-
ment authorities, the clergy, and the rabble of the
city, through the streets of which he was dragged for
many hours, he was finally brought to the place of
execution, near the citadel, a little before sundown.
An immense crowd, drawn thither, some by sympathy,
others by a vindictive desire to witness the death of
one whom the)'- regarded as an arch-heretic, but actu-
ated for the most part, probably, by mere curiosity,
was here assembled. Many of those who composed
it were at least half convinced of the divine mission
of the Bab; others, who had come with feelings of
animosity or indifference, were moved to compassion
by the sight of the youthful victim, who continued to
230 Persia, the Land of the Magi
manifest the same dignity and fortitude which had
characterized him during the whole period of his
imprisonment.
The Bab was not to suffer alone. The sentence
which had been pronounced against him included also
two of his disciples. One of these Aka Seyyid Huseyn
of Yezd, who had been his companion and amanuensis
during the whole period of his captivity, either actuated
by a monetary uncontrollable fear of death, or, as
the Babis assert with more probability, obedient to
orders received from his master, bidding him escape
at all hazards and convey to the faithful the sacred
writings of which he was the depositary, declared
himself willing to renounce the creed for which he had
already sacrificed so much, and the master to whom
he had hitherto so faithfully adhered. His recantation
was accepted and his life spared, but his death was
only deferred for two years. In September, 1852,
he met the fate which he no longer affected to fear
amongst the martyrs of Teheran.
The other disciple was a young merchant of Tabriz,
named Aka Mohammed AH. Although every effort
was made to induce him to follow the example of his
comrade, and though his wife and little children were
brotight before him, entreating him with tears to save
his life, he stood firm in his faith, and only requested
that at the moment of death he might still be allowed
to fix his gaze on his master. Finding all efforts to
alter his decision unavailing, the executioners pro-
ceeded to suspend him alongside of his master at the
distance of a few feet from the ground by means of
cords passed under the arms. As he hung thus he
was heard to address the Bab in these words : " Master !
Babisni 23 1
art thou satisfied with me?" Then the file of soldiers
drawn up before the prisoners received the command
to fire, and for a moment the smoke of the volley con-
cealed the sufferers from view. When it rolled away,
a cry of mingled exultation and terror arose from the
spectators, for, while the bleeding corspe of the dis-
ciple hung suspended in the air pierced with bullets,
the Bab had disappeared from sight! It seemed,
indeed, that his life had been preserved by a miracle,
for, of the storm of bullets which had been aimed at
him, not one had touched him; nay, instead of death
they had brought him deliverance by cutting the ropes
which had bound him, so that he fell to the ground
unhurt.
For a moment even the executioners were over-
whelmed with amazement, which rapidly gave place
to alarm as they reflected what effect this marvelous
deliverance was likely to have on the inconstant and
impressionable multitude. These apprehensions, how-
ever, were of short duration. One of the soldiers
espied the Bab hiding in a guardroom which opened
onto the stone platform over which he had been sus-
pended. He was seized, dragged forth, and again
suspended; a new firing-party was ordered to advance
(for the men who had composed the first refused to
act again); and before the spectators had recovered
from their first astonishment, or the Babis had had
time to effect a rescue, the body of the young prophet
of Shiraz was riddled with bullets.
The two corpses were dragged through the streets
and bazaars, and cast out beyond the city gates to be
devoured by dogs and jackals. From this last indig-
nity, however, they were saved by the devotion of
232 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Suleyman Khan and a few other believers, who,
whether by force, bribes, or the influence of powerful
friends, succeeded in obtaining possession of them.
They were wrapped in white silk, placed in one coffin,
and sent to Teheran, where, by order of Mirza Yahya
Subhi-i-Ezel ("the Morning of Eternity," who, though
but twenty years of age, had been chosen to succeed
the Bab), they were deposited in a little shrine called
Imam-zade-i-Masum, which stands by the Hamadan
road not far from Ribat-Karim. Here they remained
undisturbed for seventeen or eighteen years, till the
schism originated by Beha deprived his half brother
Ezel of the supremacy in the Babi church which he
had hitherto enjoyed, when they were removed by the
Behais, to whom alone is now known the resting-place
of the glorious martyrs of Tabriz.
Beha, whose proper name is Mirza Huseyn AH, of
Nur, in Mazandarin, was one of those who believed
in the Bab. He was arrested at Amul on his way to
join the Babis, who, under the leadership of Mulla
Huseyn of Bushraweyh, were entrenched at Sheykh
Tabarsi. In 1852, he narrowly escaped death in the
great persecution wherein the intrepid Suleyman
Khan, the brilliant and beautiful Kurratu 1-Ayn, and
a host of others suffered martyrdom. It was proved,
however, that he had but just arrived at Teheran, and
could not have any share in the plot against the Shah
wherein the others were accused of being involved,
so his life was spared, and after an imprisonment of
about four months, he was allowed to leave Persia
and take up his residence at Baghdad. Mirza Yahya,
"Subh-i-Ezel" ("the Morning of Eternity"), Beha's
half-brother (then only about twenty-two years of
Babism 233
age), was at that time recognized as the Bab's suc-
cessor, having been designated as such by the Bab
himself, shortly before he suffered martyrdom at
Tabriz. His supremacy was recognized, at least nom-
inally, by all the Babis during the eleven year's sojourn
of their chiefs at Baghdad, but even then Beha took
the most prominent part in the organization of affairs,
the carrying on of correspondence, and the interview-
ing of visitors. In 1863, the Ottoman government,
acceding to the urgent requests of the Persian author-
ities, removed all the Babis, including Beha and Mirza
Yahya, "Subh-i-Ezel," from Baghdad to Constanti-
nople and thence to Adrianople, where they arrived
about the end of the year. Here at length Beha
cast aside the veil, proclaimed himself as "He whom
God shall manifest," whose coming the Bab had fore-
told, and called on all the Babis, including Mirza
Yahya, "Subh-i-Ezel," to acknowledge his claim and
submit to his authority. Many of the Babis did so at
once, and their number increased as time went on, so
that now the great majority of them are followers of
Beha, though a few still adhere to Mirza Yahya, and
these are called Ezelis. But at first the disproportion
between the Bahais and the Ezelis was but slight, and
the rivalry between them was great, resulting, indeed,
in some bloodshed. So the Turkish government de-
cided to separate them, and accordingly sent Beha
and his followers to Acre in Syria, and Mirza Yahya
and his family to Famagusta in Cyprus. Now the
reason why Beha was sent to Acre, was, as his followers
assert, that its climate is exceedingly unhealthy, and
that it was hoped he might die there. But Beha con-
tinued to live and prosper, and even dreary Acre smiled
234 Persia, the Land of the Magi
with fresh gardens and seemed to gain a purer air.
Beha or Baha Ulla, who died in 1892. His brother
Abbas Eflendi, who had been one of his strong
supporters, immediately announced a new religion,
based on Babism, but with certain variations, and
assumed the title of Abd-el-Baha. It was he who has
recently visited the United States, preaching the cult of
Bahaism in a rather inocuous and indefinite way, stat-
ing that women should be educated, that war should
cease among the nations, all of which platitudes, does
not seem to some of us like any great new light from
the East, particularly coming from a man who gravely
assures his hearers that he is in truth an "emanation
from God."
The Babis year consists of nineteen months of nine-
teen days each, the same names serving alike for the
months of the year and the days of the month. These
names are as follows: — (1) Beha; (2) Jalal; (3) Jemal;
(4) Azimat; (5) Nur; (6) Rahmat; (7) Kalimat;
(8) Kamal; (9) Asma; (10) Izzat; (11) Mashiyyat;
(12) Urn; (13) Kudrat; (14) Kawl; (15) Masa'il; (16)
Sharaf; (17) Sultan; (18) Mulk; (19) Ula. According
to this arrangement, the week is completely abolished,
the third day of the eighth month, for example, is
called Yawmu '1- Jemal min shahri '1-Kamal, "the day
of beauty (Jemal) in the month of perfection (Kamal)."
But, pending the retention of the week, new names have
been given to the days composing it as follows :
Sunday, Yawmu '1- Jemal; Monday, Yawmu '1-Ka-
mal; Tuesday, Yawmu '1-Fizal; Wednesday, Yawmu
'1-Idal; Thursday, Yawmu '1-Istijlal; Friday, Yawmu
'1-Istiklal; Saturday, Yawmu '1- Jalal.
The relations of the Bab are called "Afnan," and
His Doctrine 235
the sons of Beha " Aghsan," both of these words mean-
ing "branches." Beha's eldest son, 'Abbas Efendi, is
called Ghusn-i-Akbar ("the most Great Branch") and
also Akayi Sirru 'llah ("the Master, God's Mystery"),
while another of his sons, named Mirza Mohammed
'Ali, is entitled Ghusn-i-A'zam ("the Most Mighty
Branch").
HIS DOCTRINE.
He taught that every age must have its own prophet,
inspired from God. He claimed that he was inspired
and that he had frequent communications from God
telling him how to direct the people. He openly
claimed to be Mehdeialzaman. And he taught that
the priesthood and the religion were corrupt and that
he was appointed to renew them. He did not oppose
the Koran, but at the same time said that every age
needs a new Bible. He claimed to have received a
Bible from God. This book is called Bayon, meaning
exposition. He taught the equality of both sexes
and paid homage to woman. He showed that it was
against the law of God to marry more than one woman
or to keep concubines. Further, it is against the law of
society and the happiness of women to marry more
than one wife. The law of divorce, which is common
among Mohammedans, was not practiced by the new
sect. The place of women among them is the same as
among Christians. The prophet taught that the spirit
of charity ought to be as a flame of fire in the hearts of
his followers. He said we cannot please God if we see
our brother in need and do not help him; if we pray
He will not hear us, if we worship Him He will turn
236 Persia, the Land of the Magi
His face away from us. Believing this, the spirit of
charity is very strong among them, and they support
the needy. The use of wine and all intoxicants is
strictly forbidden. They are very kind to people of
other faiths who are not Mohammedans; these they
hate. Mehdeialzaman preached these doctrines and
won many hearts. The converts were generally intelli-
gent and well educated. His doctrine spread through
the southern and northeastern parts of Persia. Among
his followers were two prominent and attractive per-
sons, Molla Hussein and Hajee Mohammed Ali. He
called them his right and left hand supporters. Another
convert of importance was a lady of rare attainments.
In poetry she was accomplished, in beauty wonder-
fully rare, and she was highly educated. She traveled
with two assistants from state to state and from city
to city, preaching the new doctrine. She never met
Bab, the founder, and knew of him only through letters.
She said that God had endowed him with unusual
gifts for this holy cause. By the power of her eloquence
she made many converts, and was called by her fol-
lowers Kurratool Alaein, which is a very high title.
Below is an outline of a discussion between a Chris-
tian and two Babis teachers, young Seyyid and Haji
Mirza Hasan, the Babis teachers said that "The object
for which man exists is that he should know God.
Now this is impossible by means of his unassisted
reason. It is therefore necessary that prophets should
be sent to instruct him concerning spiritual truth, and
to lay down ordinances for his guidance. From time
to time, therefore, a prophet appears in the world with
tokens of his divine mission sufficient to convince all
who are not blinded by prejudice and wilful ignorance.
His Doctrine 237
When such a prophet appears, it is incumbent on all
to submit themselves to him without question, even
though he command what has formerly been forbidden,
or prohibit what has formerly been ordained."
' ' Stay, ' ' I interposed ; ' ' surely one must be convinced
that such prohibition or command is sanctioned by
reason. If the doctrine or ordinance be true, it must
be agreeable to the idea of absolute good which exists
in our own minds."
"We must be convinced by evidence approved by
reason that he who claims to be a prophet actually is
so," they replied; "but when once we are assured of
this, we must obey him in everything, for he knows
better than we do what is right and wrong. If it
were not so, there would be no necessity for revelation
at all. As for the fact that what is sanctioned in one
' manifestation ' is forbidden in another, and vice versa,
that presents no difficulty. A new prophet is not sent
until the development of the human race renders this
necessary. A revelation is not abrogated till it no
longer suffices for the needs of mankind. There is no
disagreement between the prophets : all teach the same
truth, but in such measure as men can receive it. One
spirit, indeed, speaks through all the prophets; con-
sider it as the instructor (murabbi) of mankind. As
mankind advance and progress, they need fuller instruc-
tion. The child cannot be taught in the same way
as the youth, nor the youth as the full-grown man.
So it is with the human race. The instruction given
by Abraham was suitable and sufficient for the people
of his day, but not for those to whom Moses was sent,
while this in turn has ceased to meet the needs of those
to whom Christ was sent. Yet we must not say that
238 Persia, the Land of the Magi
their religions were opposed to one another, but rather
that each 'manifestation' is more complete and more
perfect than the last."
"What you say is agreeable to reason," I assented;
"but tell me, in what way is the prophet to be recog-
nized when he comes? By miracles or otherwise?"
"By miracles (if by miracles you mean prodigies
contrary to nature) — No!" they answered; "It is for
such that the ignorant have always clamored. The
prophet is sent to distinguish the good from the bad,
the believer from the unbeliever. He is the touchstone
whereby false and true metal are separated. But
if he came with evident supernatural power, who
could help believing? Who would dare oppose him?
The most rebellious and unbelieving man, if he found
himself face to face with one who could raise the dead,
cleave the moon, or stay the course of the sun, would
involuntarily submit. The persecution to which all
the prophets have been exposed, the mockery to which
they have been compelled to submit, the obloquy they
have borne, all testify to the fact that their enemies
neither feared them nor believed that God would sup-
port them; for no one, however foolish, however for-
ward, would knowingly and voluntarily fight against
the power of the Omnipotent. No, the signs whereby
the prophet is known are these: Though untaught
in the learning esteemed by men, he is wise in true
wisdom; he speaks a word which is creative and con-
structive; his word so deeply affects the hearts of
men that for it they are willing to forego wealth and
comfort, fame and family, even life itself. What the
prophet says comes to pass. Consider Mohammed.
He was surrounded by enemies, he was scoffed at and
His Doctrine 239
opposed by the most powerful and wealthy of his
people, he was derided as madman, treated as an
impostor. But his enemies have passed away, and his
word remains. He said 'You shall fast in the month
of Ramazan,' and behold, thousands and thousands
obey that word to this day. He said, 'You shall make
a pilgrimage to Mecca if you are able,' and every
year brings thither countless pilgrims from all quarters
of the globe. This is the special character of the
prophetic word; it fulfils itself ; it creates; it triumphs.
Kings and rulers strove to extinguish the word of Christ,
but they could not ; and now kings and rulers make it
their pride that they are Christ's servants. Against
all opposition, against all persecution, unsupported
by human might, what the prophet says come to pass.
This is the true miracle, the greatest possible miracle,
and indeed the only miracle which is a proof to future
ages and distant peoples. Those who are privileged
to meet the prophet may indeed be convinced in other
ways, but for those who have not seen him his word
is the evidence on which conviction must rest. If
Christ raised the dead, you were not a witness of it;
if Mohammed cleft the moon asunder, I was not there
to see. No one can really believe a religion merely
because miracles are ascribed to its founder, for are
they not ascribed to the founder of every religion by its
votaries? But when a man arises amongst a people,
untaught and. unsupported, yet speaking a word which
causes empires to change, hierarchies to fall, and
thousands to die willingly in obedience to it, that is a
proof absolute and positive that the word spoken is
from God. This is the proof to which we point in sup-
port of our religion. What you have already learned
240 Persia, the Land of the Magi
concerning its origin will suffice to convince you that
in no previous 'manifestation' was it clearer and more
complete."
"I understand your argument," I replied, "and it
seems to me a weighty one. But I wish to make two
observations. Firstly, it appears to me that you must
include amongst the number of the prophets many
who are ordinarily excluded, as, for example, Zoro-
aster; for all the proofs which you have enumerated
were, so far as we can learn, presented by him.
Secondly, though I admit that your religion possesses
these proofs in a remarkable degree (at least so far
as regards the rapidity with which it spread in spite
of all opposition), I cannot altogether agree that the
triumph of Islam was an instance of the influence of
the prophetic word only. The influence of the sword
was certainly a factor in its wide diffusion. If the
Arabs had not invaded Persia, slaying, plundering,
and compelling, do you think that the religion of
Mohammed would have displaced the religion of
Zoroaster? To us the great proof of the truth of
Christ's teaching is that it steadily advanced in spite
of the sword, not by the sword : the great reproach on
Islam, that its diffusion was in so large a measure due
to the force of arms rather than the force of argument.
I sympathize with your religion, and desire to know
more of it, chiefly because the history of its origin,
the cruel fate of its founder, the tortures joyfully
endured with heroic fortitude by its votaries, all remind
me of the triumph of Mohammed."
"As to your first observation," rejoined the Babi
spokesman, "it is true, and we do recognize Zoroaster,
and others whom the Mussulmans reject, as prophets.
His Doctrine 241
For though falsehood may appear to flourish for a
while, it cannot do so for long. God will not permit
an utterly false religion to be the sole guide of thou-
sands. But with Zoroaster and other ancient prophets
you and I have nothing to do. The question for you
is whether another prophet has come since Christ:
for us, whether another has come since Mohammed."
"Well," I interrupted, "what about the propagation
of Islam by the sword? For you cannot deny that in
many countries it was so propagated. What right
had Mohammed — what right has any prophet — to slay
where he cannot convince? Can such a thing be
acceptable to God, who is absolute good?"
"A prophet has the right to slay if he knows that
it is necessary," answered the young Seyyid, "for he
knows what is hidden from us ; and if he sees that the
slaughter of a few will prevent many from going astray,
he is justified in commanding such a slaughter. The
prophet is the spiritual physician, and as no one would
blame a physician for sacrificing a limb to save the
body, so no one can question the right of a prophet
to destroy the bodies of a few, that the souls of many
may live. As to what you say, that God is absolute
good, it is undeniably true; yet God had not only
attributes of grace but also attributes of wrath — He
is Al-Muntakim (the avenger) as well as Al-Ghafur
(the pardoner) . And these attributes as well as those
must be manifested in the prophet, who is the God-
revealing mirror."
"I do not agree with you there," I answered. "I
know very well that men have often attributed, and
do attribute, such qualities as these to God, and it
appears to me that in so doing they have been led into
242 Persia, the Land of the Magi
all manner of evil and cruelty, whereby they have
brought shame on the name of their religion. I believe
what one of your own poets has said :
'Az Khayr-i-Mahz juz niku'i nayad,'
'Naught but good comes from Absolute Good,'
and we cannot falsify the meaning of words in such
wise as to say that qualities which we universally con-
demn in man are good in God. To say that revenge
in man is bad, while revenge in God is good, is to
confound reason, stultify speech, and juggle with para-
doxes. But, passing by this question altogether, you
can hardly imagine that a prophet in whom the ' Attri-
butes of Wrath' were manifested could attract to
himself such as have believed in a prophet in whom
were reflected the 'Attributes of Grace.' Admitting
even that a prophet sent to a very rude, ignorant, or
forward people may be justified in using coercion to
prepare the way for a better state of things, and ad-
mitting that Mohammed was so justified by the cir-
cumstances under which he was placed, still you cannot
expect those who have learned the gentle teaching of
Christ to revert to the harsher doctrines of Moham-
med, for though the latter was subsequent as regards
time, his religion was certainly not a higher develop-
ment of the religion of Christ. I do not say that
Mohammed was not a prophet; I do not even assert
that he could or should have dealt otherwise with his
people; but, granting all this it is still impossible for
anyone who has understood the teaching of Christ
to prefer the teaching of Mohammed. You have said
that the God-given message is addressed to the people
of each epoch of time in such language as they can
His Doctrine 243
comprehend, in such measure as they can receive.
Should we consider time only, and not place ? May it
not be that since the stages of development at which
different peoples living at the same time have arrived
are diverse, they may require different prophets and
different religions? The child, as you have said, must
be taught differently as he grows older, and the teacher
accordingly employs different methods of instruction
as his pupil waxes in years and understanding, though
the knowledge he strives to impart remains always
the same. But in the same school are to be found at
one time pupils of many different ages and capacities.
What is suitable to one class is not suitable to another.
May it not be the same in the spiritual world?"
At this point there was some dissension in the
assembly; the young Seyyid shook his head, and
relapsed into silence; Mirza AH signified approval of
what I had said. Haji Mirza Hasan strove to avoid
the point at issue, and proceeded thus :
"I have already said that what is incumbent on
every man is that he should believe in the 'manifesta-
tion' of his own age. It is not required of him that
he should discuss and compare all previous 'manifes-
tations.' You have been brought up a follower of
Christ. We have believed in this 'manifestation'
which has taken place in these days. Let us not waste
time in disputing about intermediate 'manifestations.'
We do not desire to make you believe in Mohammed,
but in Beha. If you should be convinced of the truth
of Beha's teaching you have passed over the stage of
Islam altogether. The last 'manifestation' includes
and sums up all preceding ones. You say that you
could not accept Islam because its laws and ordinances
244 Persia, the Land of the Magi
are harsher, and, in your eyes, less perfect than those
laid down by Christ. Very well, we do not ask you
to accept Islam, we ask you to consider whether you
should not accept Beha. To do so you need not go
back from a gentle to a severe dispensation. Beha
has come for the perfecting of the law of Christ, and
his injunctions are in all respects similar; for instance
we are commanded to prefer rather that we should be
killed than that we should kill. It is the same through-
out, and, indeed, could not be otherwise, for Beha is
Christ returned again, even as He promised, to perfect
that which He had begun. Your own books tell you
that Christ shall come 'like a thief in the night,' at a
time when you are not expecting Him."
"True," I replied, "but those same books tell us
also that His coming shall be 'as the lightning, that
lighteneth out of the one part under heaven and shineth
into the other part under heaven."
"There can be no contradiction between these two
similies," answered the Babi; "and since the phrase
' like a thief in the night ' evidently signifies that when
Christ returns it will be in a place where you do not
expect Him, and at a time when you do not expect
Him — that is, suddenly and secretly — it is clear that
the comparison in the other passage which you quoted
is to the suddenness and swiftness of the lightning,
not to its universal vividness. If, as the Christians
for the most part expect, Christ should come riding
upon the clouds surrounded by angels, how could He
be said in any sense to come 'like a thief in the night?'
Everyone would see him, and, seeing would be com-
pelled to believe. It has always been through such
considerations as these that men have rejected the
His Doctrine 245
prophet whose advent they professed to be expecting,
because He did not come in some unnatural and impos-
sible manner which they had vainly imagined. Christ
was indeed the promised Messiah, yet the Jews, who
had waited, and prayed, and longed for the coming of
the Messiah, rejected Him when He did come for just
such reasons. Ask a Jew now why he does not believe
in Christ, and he will tell you that the signs whereby
the Messiah was to be known were not manifest at
his coming. Yet, had he understood what was intended
by those signs, instead of being led away by vain
traditions, he would know that the promised Messiah
had come and gone and come again. So with the
Christians. On a mountain close by Acre is a mon-
astery peopled by Christian priests and monks, assem-
bled there to await the arrival of Christ on that spot
as foretold. And they continue to gaze upwards into
heaven, whence they suppose that He will descend,
while only a few miles off in Acre He has returned, and
is dwelling amongst men as before. O, be not blinded
by these very misapprehensions which you condemn
so strongly in the Jews! The Jews would not believe
in Christ because He was not accompanied by a host
of angels; you blame the Jews for their obstinacy and
forwardness, and you do rightly. But beware lest
you condemn yourselves by alleging the very same
reason as an excuse for rejecting this 'manifestation.'
Christ came to the Jews accompanied by angels —
angels none the less because they were in the guise of
fishermen. Christ returns to you as Beha with angels,
with clouds, with the sound of trumpets. His angels
are His messengers; the clouds are the doubts which
prevent you from recognizing Him ; the sound of trum-
246 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
pets is the sound of the proclamation which you now
hear, announcing that He has come once more from
heaven, even as he came before, not as a human form
descending visibly from the sky, but as the Spirit of
God entering into a man, and abiding there."
"Well," I replied, "your arguments are strong and,
certainly deserve consideration. But, even suppos-
ing that you are right in principle, it does not follow
that they hold good in this particular case. If I grant
that the return of Christ may be in such wise as you
indicate, nevertheless mere assertion will not prove
that Beha is Christ. Indeed, we are told by Christ
Himself that many will arise in His name, saying
'See here,' or 'See there,' and are warned not to fol-
low them."
"Many have arisen falsely claiming to be Christ,"
he answered, "but the injunction laid on you to beware
of these does not mean that you are to refuse to accept
Christ when He does return. The very fact that
there are pretenders is a proof that there is a reality.
You demand proofs, and you are right to do so. What
proofs would suffice for you?"
"The chief proofs which occur to me at this moment,"
I replied, "are as follows: You admit, so far as I
understand, that in each 'manifestation' a promise
has been given for a succeeding 'manifestation,' and
that certain signs have always been laid down whereby
that 'manifestation' may be recognized. It is there-
fore incumbent on you to show that the signs foretold
by Christ as heralding His return have been accom-
plished in the coming of Beha. Furthermore, since
each 'manifestation' must be fuller, completer, and
more perfect than the last, you must prove that the
His Doctrine 247
doctrines taught by Beha are superior to the teaching
of Christ — a thing which I confess seems to me almost
impossible, for I cannot imagine a doctrine purer or
more elevated than that of Christ. Lastly, quite apart
from miracles in the ordinary sense, there is one sign
which we regard as the especial characteristic of a
prophet, to wit, that he should have knowledge of
events which have not yet come to pass. No sign can
be more appropriate or more convincing than this.
For a prophet claims to be inspired by God, and to
speak of the mysteries of the Unseen. If he has
knowledge of the Unseen he may well be expected to
have knowledge of the Future. That we may know
that what he tells us about other matters beyond our
ken is true, we must be convinced that he has knowl-
edge surpassing ours in some matter which we can
verify. This is afforded most readily by the foretell-
ing of events which have not yet happened, a'nd which
we cannot forsee. These three signs appear to me
both sufficient and requisite to establish such a claim
as that which you advance for Beha."
I allowed the discussion to stand at this point, and
proceeded to make inquiries about the books which
they prize most highly. In reply to these inquiries
they informed me that Mirza Ali Mohammed the Bab
had composed in all about an hundred separate treatises
of different sizes; that the name Beyan was applied
generally to all of them; and that the book which I
described as having been translated into French by
Gobineau must be that specially designated as the
Kitabu '1-Ahkam ("Book of Precepts"). Beha, they
added, had composed about the same number of sep-
arate books and letters. I asked if all these works
248 Persia, the Land of the Magi
existed in Shiraz, to which they replied: "No, they
are scattered about the country in the hands of believers
— some at Yezd, some at Isfahan, some in other places.
In Shiraz the total number of separate works is alto-
gether about a dozen."
"If that be so," I remarked, "I supposed that some
few works of greater value than the others are to be
found in every community of believers; and I should
be glad to know which these are, so that I may endeavor
to obtain them."
"All that emanates from the Source (masdar) is
equal in importance," they answered, "but some books
are more systematic, more easily understood, and
therefore more widely read than others. Of these
the chief are:— (1) The Kitab-i-Akdas ('Most Holy
Book'), which sums up all the commands and ordi-
nances enjoined on us; (2) The Ikan ('Assurance'),
which sets forth the proof of our religion; (3) Disser-
tations on Science — astronomy, metaphysics, and the
like — which we call Suwar-i-'Ilmiyye; (4) Prayers
(Munajat) and Exhortations (Khutab). Besides these
there is a history of the early events of this 'manifes-
tation,' written by one who desired to keep his name
secret."
Oh
-
Hn
CHAPTER XIII.
The Magi or Parsee Religion.
THE ancient religion of Persia was called Parsee.
This was the prevailing religion of Persia in
ancient times. Zerdush (commonly called Zoroaster)
was either the founder or a reformer of that religion.
The general belief is that he was the founder, since the
religion and its followers are called by his name. Some
suppose that their religion and the religion of Hindoo,
were originally the same and that they were divided
by some political affair between the Iranians and the
Aryans. The Hindoo branch took the name of Brah-
minian. The doctrines changed somewhat after the
separation, but the fundamental principles remained
the same.
Different dates are given for the beginning of the
Zerdush religion. Some authorities date its beginning
at 1200 B. C, while others place it at 500 B. C. The
latter is generally agreed upon. There are two pre-
vailing ideas about his place of birth, both Babylonia
and Urmiah, Persia, being claimed as his native city.
There are many good reasons for believing that Urmiah
was his birthplace. First, the original worshipers
were Persians, and the religion was started in Persia.
Second, all Oriental scholars and writers supposed that
this was his native city. Third, in the distinct imme-
diately surrounding Urmiah, the writer has seen more
than thirty immense hills of ashes, the remaining
monuments of the fire- worshipers of this religion.
Fire was their god and a continuous flame was kept
(249)
250 Persia, the Land of the Magi
burning through the centuries. Some of these hills
are named as follows: De-ga-la, Sheikh-ta-pa, Gog-
ta-pa, etc. Among these hills we find the "Tower
of Silence," a large structure built of stone and con-
taining the remains of kings and other notable men
of ancient times.
BIBLE AND DOCTRINES.
The Bible of the Parsee is called Avesta, which
means the revelation. The language is Zend, from
which the Persian language is derived. The founder
of this religion taught as pure monotheism as was
taught by Moses. Zerdush taught the existence of
but one deity, who was called Maz-daw, or as it is pro-
nounced now in Persia, Hurmizd. To this god was
attributed the creation of all good fortune, govern-
ment, long life, honor, health, beauty, truth, joy and
happiness. But later this doctrine of monotheism be-
came dualism, i. e., the supposition of two primal
causes of the real and intellectual world; the Vahu
Mano, the good mind or reality, and Akem Mano or
the naught mind or naught reality. Ah-ra-man, the
god of darkness, has created devils, he causes evil
thoughts, evil deeds, wars, misfortune, sorrow, death,
and hell. Zerdush taught that there are two lives, one
mental and the other physical. He believed in the im-
mortality of the soul; that there are two abodes for
the departed, heaven, the house of angels, and hell, the
dwelling-place of the devil and his angels. Between
the two there is a bridge of judegment over which only
the followers of Zerdush will be able to cross safely.
Before the general resurrection of Sosiosh, the son of
Zerdush will be spiritually begotten. He will come as
a messenger from Ahuramazdoo and will foretell the
Bible and Doctrines 251
time of the resurrection and judgment. The world at
that time will be utterly steeped in wretchedness and
darkness and sin; will then be renewed, death, the
archfiend of creation, will be slain, and life will be ever-
lastingly holy; and righteousness will dwell in the
renewed world.
The Zoroastrian creed flourished until the time
of Alexander the Great throughout ancient Ironiona,
including Cabulistan, Bakhira, Media and Persia, and
then declined. But again under Ardashir, who has
been called Bobegon, and who claimed to be the
descendant of Zerdush, the religion of his ancestors
was renewed, and the lost parts of the holy book,
A vesta, were found and put together. He chose a
magician, the ablest of 40,000 magician priests, to
translate the book into vernacular language, thus re-
newing the religion. Unfortunately the A vesta was
utterly destroyed in A. D. 640 by the followers of
Mohammed.
Now there are in Persia only 15,000 Zoroastrians.
The Mohammedans called gabrees, i. e., ungodly.
Most of them live in Kerman, Yezd, on the soil of
their motherland. The men are good citizens, humble,
honest, and generous, especially to their own brethren,
and are industrious, intelligent, handsome, clean in
appearance and faithful to their religion. The women
are most beautiful, delicate in frame, small hands,
small nose, clear complexion, with pink cheeks, black
eyes and eyebrows. They do not cover their faces
when in public, except to Mohammedans, whom they
consider wicked men. The women are good, faithful
housewives and honest to their husbands.
The Zoroastrian year is solar, not lunar like the
252 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Mohammedan, and consists of twelve months of thirty
days each, and five additional days called gata (cor-
responding to the Mohammedan " khamsa-i-mustar-
aka") to bring the total up to 365. The year begins
at the vernal equinox, when the sun enters the sign of
Aries (about 21st March), and is inaugurated by the
ancient national festival of the Naw Ruz, or New
Year's Day, which, as has been already mentioned, is
observed no less by the Mohammedans than by the
Zoroastrians of Persia. Each day of the month is
presided over by an angel or arch-angel (of whom
there are seven, called Amshaspands, to each of which
a day of the first week is allotted), save that three
days, the 8th, 15th, and 23d of the month, are, like the
first, sacred to Ormuzd. These are holy days, and
are collectively known as the Si-dey. The following
is a list of the days of the month, each of which is
called by the name of the angel presiding over it: —
(1) Ormuzd; (2) Bahman, the angel of flocks and
herds; (3) Urdi-bihisht, the angel of light; (4) Shah-
rivar, the angel of jewels, gold, and minerals; (5)
Sipan-darmaz, the angel of the earth; (6) Khurdad,
the angel of water and streams; (7) Amurdad, the
angel of trees and plants; (8) Dey-bi-Azar, the first
of the Si-dey, sacred to Ormuzd; (9) Azar; (10)
Aban; (11) Khir; (12) Mah; (13) Tir; (14) Gush;
(15) Dey-bi-Mihr, the second of the Si-dey; (16)
Mihr; (17) Surush; (18) Rashn; (19) Farvardin;
(20) Bahram; (21) Ram; (22) Dad; (23) Dey-bi-
Din, the third of the Si-dey; (24) Din; (25) Ard;
(26) Ashtad; (27) Asman; (28) Zamyad; (29) Muntra-
sipand; (30) Anaram. Of these thirty names twelve
belong also to the months, as follows :
Bible and Doctrines 253
Spring (Bahar) — (1) Farvardin; (2) Urdi-bihisht ;
(3) Khurdad.
Summer (Tabistan) — (4) Tir: (5) Amurdad; (6)
Shahrivar.
Autumn (Pa'iz)— (7) Mihr; (8) Aban; (9) Azar.
Winter (Zamistan)— (10) Dey; (11) Bahman; (12)
Sipandarmaz.
The week has no place in the Zoroastrian calendar,
the arrangement of the solar year instituted by the
Babis presents many points of similarity which can
hardly be regarded as accidental. As an example of
the very simple manner in which dates are expressed
according to the Zoroastrian calendar, I may quote the
following lines from a Persian poem occurring in a
Zend-Pahlavi MS. of the Vendidad, of which I shall
have something more to say shortly: —
" Bi-ruz-i-Gush, u dar mah-i -Amurdad
Sene nuh-sad, digar bud haft u haftad,
Zi fawt-i-Yazdijird-i-shahriyaran
Kuja bigzashte bud az ruzgaran,
Navishtam nisf-i-Vendidad-i-awal
Rasanidam, bi-lutf-i-Hakk, bi-manzil."
"On the day of Gush (the 14th day), and in
the month of Amurdad (the 5th month).
When nine hundred years, and beyond that
seven and seventy,
From the death of Yazdijird the king
Flad passed of time,
I wrote the first half of the Vendidad,
And brought it, by God's grace, to conclusion."
A little consideration will show the reader that one
day in each month will bear the same name as the
254 Persia, the Land of the Magi
month, and will be under the protection of the same
angel. Thus the nineteenth day of the first month
will be "the day of Farvardin in the month of Far-
vardin," the third day of the second month, "the day of
Urdi-bihisht in the month of Urdi-bihisht," and so on.
Such days are kept as festivals by the Zoroastrians.
THEIR RITUALS.
A Parsee child must be born on the ground floor
of the house of its parents as a sign of humility and
that the child may begin its life with good thoughts,
words and actions, and as a sign of loyalty to its par-
ents. The mother cannot go out for forty days. After
that she washes herself with holy water which has been
sanctified by the priest.
A Parsee rises early, washes his hands and face,
recites his prayers toward the sun. He rejects pork,
ham and camel flesh and will not eat anything cooked
by one outside of the Parsee religion. Marriages can
be contracted only with persons of their own creed.
Polygamy is borbidden except after nine years of ster-
ility, then a man is allowed to marry another woman.
Divorces are entirely forbidden. The crimes of forni-
cation and adultery are very severely punished. They
worship the clean creations of the great Hurmizda,
such as the sun, moon, fire, etc. Aha-ramazda is the
origin of light, the sun and fire having come from him,
he having first been created by Hurmizda. In the
case of a hopelessly sick person the priest will recite
some text of the holy Bible Avesta as a consolation
to the dying person. After death the body is taken
to the ground floor, the place of its birth, to be washed
and anointed with perfumes, dressed in white and put
Their Rituals 255
upon an iron grating. A dog is brought in to take a
last look, and he drives away all evil spirits. The
friends and relatives go before the door, bow down
and raise their hands to their heads after touching
the floor, as an indication of their last respect to the
departed soul. The body upon the bier is covered.
Two men will bring it out and give it to four pall-
bearers dressed in white, who, followed by a great
procession, take it to the "Tower of Silence." The
last prayer will be recited in the holy temple, a build-
ing in which the holy fire burns continually through
the ages. The body is then taken from the "Tower
of Silence" and, placed on an iron bier, is exposed
to the fowls of the air and the dew of heaven and
to the sun until the flesh has disappeared, and the
bleached bones fall through into a pit beneath and are
afterwards buried in a cave.
They believe the holy fire is brought down from
heaven. Only priests can approach it, and they must
wear a half mask over the face, lest their breath should
defile it, and never touch it with hands, but by instru-
ments. Tobacco smoking is prohibited, as the smoker
would defile the holy fire. They say there are five
kinds of fire and great respect is shown to them. I
remember having had a conversation with a Parsee,
in which he said: "Fire purifies all things, is stronger
than all things, is cleaner than all other things, more
beautiful than all things; therefore, fire is god. Your
own Bible says: 'I am a consuming fire.' "
The Parsees have five kinds of sacrifices. These
are the slaughtering of animals for the public and
poor men ; prayer, the Doruns sacrament with its con-
secrated bread and wine, in honor of the founder of
256 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the law, Heromah (or Sama), the Dahman. This
sacrament resembles our Lord's Supper. It is eaten
publicly as a feast of joy. Fourth, the sacrifice of
expiration, which is offered by all men and is killed in
their temples. Lastly, the sacrifice for the souls of
the dead. The removal of moral and physical im-
purities is effected by holy water and earth and by
prayer. Prayer and holy words from the Avesta are
recited several times every day. Fasting and celibacy
are hateful to the divinity. The ethical code may be
summed up in three words — purity of thought, of
words and of deeds. This, they claim, will become
the universal religion of the world.
A Parsee believes the soul of a dead man is for
three days walking near the tomb where the dead body
is laid. The fourth day the gates of heaven will be
opened and he will approach the bridge of Chin-vat.
Here the good and evil deeds of his life will be weighed
in the balances of justice. If the good deeds of his life
outweigh the bad, he will pass over the bridge into
heaven. If the bad are heavier than the good the
candidate falls beneath the bridge into hell. In both
heaven and hell there are three states. In heaven,
good words, thoughts, deeds and words. In hell, bad
words, thoughts and deeds.
According to the Assyrian or Nestorian church
fathers the holy prophet Zoroaster thus taught the
Persians concerning the birth of Christ : When a fixed
period has come and the time has been fulfilled a
Saviour will come to the world. He shall be the in-
visible God, and it shall be wonderful on the earth at
that time. A sight shall be seen in that day which shall
be unique and incomprehensible, for it shall not be
Their Rituals 257
from this world. A luminous bright star shall rise
which shall resemble a woman carrying a child in her
bosom. When this star shall appear the sun shall not
be able to hide it nor the stars to conceal it, for it shall
shine everywhere.
Keep my words in your hearts, teach them to your
children, your children to their children until He comes.
When this sign appears in this likeness to your sons,
let them take in their hands three offerings to his glory :
Let them offer gold to Him as king, for gold is the
tribute paid to kings.
Myrrh also, as suited to His humanity, shall they
offer.
Frankincense shall they offer in honor of His divin-
ity— for this is the symbol of sacrifice to God, and
He shall indeed be the God of gods.
The land in which this shall appear shall see many
mighty works. He shall be crucified. He shall be
brought into life. He shall vanquish the destroyer,
death. He shall rise again on the third day. He shall
ascend to the height of His excellence. In the fulness
of days He shall come to execute judgment upon all
flesh.
See, this have I commanded you. Take heed to
it, both ye and your children, that when He comes ye
disregard Him not, that your end may not be perdi-
tion, for He is the Lord of kings and ruler of both
the heavens and the earth. Reject not this my speech.
And so the people kept these sayings in their hearts
and taught them to their children and children's chil-
dren, and used to even go up upon the mountains and
watch for the star that was to be the herald to them
that a Saviour, the Prince of Peace, had come. Finally
258 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the star appeared and these very people to whom this
tradition had been handed down from one generation
to another saw it. It shone there clear and bright,
away off in the distance over the little town of Beth-
lehem, and while their wise men thanked God for
this divine revelation of Himself, and taking their rich
gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, went to wor-
ship Him, many another devout and aged person
among these very people felt like the aged Simeon:
"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy
salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel."
Zoroaster, we are told, was a great astrologer, nad
from his knowledge of the heavenly bodies would
calculate nativities and foretell events. He foretold
the birth of our Lord and it is on account of this that
I have given the foregoing brief outline of his intro-
duction of fire-worship in Persia.
The two following list of the names of the wise
men from the East, who went to worship the infant
Saviour, together with Zoroaster's prophecy of His
birth, are:
Mikoo, who took gold.
Casper, who took frankincense.
Bagdasar, who took myrrh.
Others say that there were twelve wise men in the
party that journeyed to Bethlehem. They give the
names as follows :
Dervander, son of Juartish.
Hoormuzdar, son of Cetaroog.
Gusnap, son of Gunadnapar.
Their Rituals 259
Aershak, son of Meharook.
Zheroondar, son of Waroaz.
Aerehoo, son of Khoosroo.
Artaxerxes, son of Koolkad.
Aishtabdoon, son of Shirvanash.
Mezrook, son of Koohem.
Ahasuerus, son of Sapkham.
Sardalex, son of Bedarn.
Mroodak, son of Beldan.
SACRIFICIAL HYMN.
"Blest of all goods is purity.
Glory, glory to him
Who is best and purest in purity.
For he who ruleth from purity, he abideth according
to the will of the Lord.
The All-Wise giveth gifts for the works which man
doeth in the world for the Lord.
He who protecteth the poor giveth the kingdom to
Ahura."
HYMN OF PRAISE.
"The All-Wise Creator, Ahura Marzda, the greatest,
the best, the most fair in glory and majesty,
The mightiest in His strength, the wisest in His wis-
dom, the holiest in His holiness, whose power
is of all power the fairest,
Who is very wise, who maketh all things to rejoice
afar,
Who hath made us and formed us, who hath saved us,
the holiest among the heavenly ones.
Him I adore and praise, unto Him I declare the sac-
rifice, Him I invite."
CHAPTER XIV.
The Language, The Schools, Literature of
Modern Persia.
THE language of Persia, called jomie, or nizamie,
is from the old zend. After the Mohammedan
conquest the Arabs have infused many Arabic words in
Persian language by persecution so the pure language
of the Persians is imputed to such an extent that one-
third of our words are Arabic. In comparison with
other Asiatic languages most of the scholars take the
Persian language to be best, particularly sweetest, of
all Asiatic languages. The Persian poet says: "The
original language was the language of Arabs. The
Turkish language is hard, but the Persian language is
honeycomb."
THE SCHOOLS.
In Persia there is no system of public or state school.
There are schools in all large towns and cities which
are taught by the priest in a room of the mosque.
These schools are voluntary, and no person is obliged
to send his children. The students each pay the
priest five to twenty-five cents per month. Those
who cannot pay anything are admitted free. The
priest's food is brought to him by the students. The
ages of the pupils range from ten to twenty years.
These schools are for boys only. There are no schools
for girls. If a girl gets any education at all it must
be from a private tutor. In the schools the text books
in history and poetry are in the Persian language and
(260)
The Schools 261
the Koran and grammar are taught in the Arabic lan-
guage. Mathematics, geography, the sciences and
the history of other nations are never taught. The
pupils usually sit in two rows. One row sits along one
wall and the other row along the opposite wall, and
the teacher sits in the center of the room. They do
not use chairs, but sit on the floor, which is covered
with a reed matting. When the pupils are at study
they reel back and forth and repeat words loud enough
to be heard a block away. They imagine this is an
aid to memory. The teacher has authority to punish
the students very severely. Sometimes a parent will
take the child to a teacher and will deliver him into
the gentle keeping of the professor with the remark:
"His bones are mine, but his flesh is yours. Teach
him, but punish him as you see fit." A post is planted
in the school room to which an unruly boy's feet are
fastened, soles upward, and the bottoms are whipped
with heavy switches. This punishment is only for
the worst boys. The religious teaching consists of
quotations from the Koran and traditions about their
prophets. The boys are usually very bad about re-
viling each other and about fighting. The teacher does
not protect the weaker, but urges him to return the
reviling or the blows he has received. The students
of one mosque often attack the students of a neigh-
boring mosque, since they regard them as enemies.
The most prominent university of the Shiite Moham-
medans is in the shrine place of Karballa. All those
who are to become mujtahids study at this place. In
several of the large cities they have schools of a higher
rank than the ordinary mosque school in which a
course in Persian literature is given. It is a pleasure
262 Persia, the Land of the Magi
to state that the late Shah of Persia, after his visit
to some of the universities of Europe, founded a col-
lege in the capital city, which he called the place of
science. The French, English and Russian languages
are taught, and a study is made of some modern sciences.
The college is only for princes and the sons of rich
people. It is only one flower in a vast wilderness.
The problem of Mohammedanism is to keep the com-
mon people ignorant so the priests can continue to rule
them. Therefore, the priesthood does not favor higher
education. Some counts or lords send their sons to
Paris to be educated, but the ordinary young man has
no opportunity for education.
LITERATURE OF MODERN PERSIA.
Modern Persian literature begins with the recon-
struction of the national epic, A. D. 1000. The writers
are, in fact, one and all Mohammedans, beginning with
poetry under the rule of the third of the Samanids
we have Nasr and Abul Hassan, Rudige, A. D. 952.
About A. D. 1000 we hear of Kobus, the Delemine
Prince; in 1039 Ferdichi, the authors of Shah-Nameb
(the book of Kings). About 1200 Nizami, the founder
of the romantic epic, the greater part of his chamshe
or collection of five romantic poems (chasrn and
Shirin Mignum and Leila, etc.). In 1216 Firid Eddin
and Djalal Eddin Rumi, founder of the most popular
order of Dervishes, viz., poems and contemplative
life have made him the oracle of Oriental mysticism;
the thirteenth century was closed by Shirk Muslih
Sadi of Shiraz. His Bostan and Gulistan will ever
make him a favorite with his own people. In the
fourteenth century Shines Hafiz, the sugar lip, who
Literature of Modern Persia 263
sang of vim and love and nightingales and flowers,
bees and roses.
Below is given a quotation from one of his poems
about the nightingale and the miller: "Ai morgh
saher ashk zparrwana beyamoz, Kan Sukhtara shud
wawaz nayamab." Translation: "Oh, thou, the bird
of the morning, you must learn to love from the miller.
It burned itself in the fire, but did not make any noise."
Haji Molloh Kozim translated this rhyme as fol-
lows: "The morning bird is the nightingale — little
smaller than the sparrow, but it has a very loud voice,
as clear as a golden bell." All poets in Persia agree
that it is a better singer than any other bird in Asia.
Besides his singing he is the bird that has more love
for his mate than any other bird in the world. They
generally sing in the morning and the evening time.
When the female is on her nest the male sits in the same
tree, or very near, and sings for his mate. At times
the male sits on the nests and his mate, perched near
by, sings for him in a wonderfully sweet voice. The
nightingale is a general favorite, and many popular
songs have been written about this bird, and are sung
by nearly every young man and young lady, boy and
girl in Persia.
This author says of the miller that it loves light
more than any other insect. From its love of light
it throws itself into the fire as every one has seen in
America of a summer evening about an electric lamp.
Sahdi takes this example for himself to illustrate his
love to God. He says the love of the miller is more
than the love of the nightingale, because the night-
ingale shows its love by singing and making noise;
but the miller, though it has a living body, makes no
264 Persia, the Land of the Magi
noise when it is burning in the fire; "so," says he,
"ought to be my love to God."
The poetry of this writer has been pronounced by
most Persian scholars to be of a singularly original
character — simple and unaffected, yet possessing a
wild and peculiar sublimity. The suddenness of his
transitions from the joys of love and wine to reflec-
tions on the instability of human felicity are beautiful,
and in this respect greatly resemble the odes of Horace.
There are few lyrical effusions which can bear trans-
lation, and thus it must be difficult for an English
reader to comprehend the merits of Hafiz; but in his
own land he is fully appreciated ; and perhaps no poet
of any country ever attained greater popularity among
those for whom he wrote than the celebrated Khaujeh
of Shiraz.
The mortal remains of the bard rest near the city
whose praises he sang so sweetly, not far from the
tomb of Sadi; like which, it is situated in a small
enclosure. It continues to this day a frequent resort
of his countrymen, who repair thither to recite his odes
under the shade of the cypresses that rise around it,
and who appeal to the pages of their favorite poet for
an omen of success in all their important undertakings.
Next to Hafiz in celebrity may be placed Abdul
Rahman Jami, so named from the village where he
lived in the reign of Sultan Hussein Baicara. He was
a celebrated doctor of laws, but not less a determined
Sufi, and his Divan, or collection of odes, which are
remarkable for their sweetness, is greatly esteemed by
these enthusiasts. We have already noticed his
romance of Yussuff and Zuleika. We may add, that
his wit was equal to his poetic genius, while the apt-
Literature of Modern Persia 265
ness of his repartees, and the success with which he
repressed the vanity of boasters, are still mentioned
with admiration. A poet, who had obtained some
praise at a competition of authors, was relating the
various happy replies he had made: — "Thou hast
answered well to-day," said Jami, regarding him with
coldness, "but hast thou thought of what thou shalt
answer to-morrow?" To-day and to-morrow, in the
mystic language, signify this life and the next.
There is no doubt that certain passages in the
Koran are susceptible to a certain degree of mystical
interpretation. Take, for instance, the 17 th verse of
the 8th chapter, where God reminds Mohammed that
the victory of Bedr was only in appearance won by
the valor of the Moslems: — "Fa lam takuluhum, wa
lakinna 'llaha katalahum : wa ma rameyta idh rameyta,
wa lakinna 'llah rama," — "And thou didst not slay
them, but God slew them; and thou didst not shoot
when thou didst shoot, but God shot." Although there
is no need to explain this otherwise than as an assurance
that God supported the faithful in their battles, either
by natural or (as the commentators assert) by super-
natural means, and although it lends itself far less
readily than many texts in the New and even in the
Old Testament to mystical interpretation, it never-
theless serves the Persian Sufis as a foundation-stone
for their pantheistic doctrines. "The Prophet," they
say, "did not kill when men fell by his hand. He did
not throw when he cast the handful of stones which
brought confusion into the ranks of the heathen. He
was in both cases but a mirror wherein was manifested
the might of God. God alone was the Real Agent, as
He is in all the actions which we, in our spiritual,
266 Persia, the Land of the Magi
attribute to men. God alone is, and we are but the
waves which stir for a moment on the surface of the
Ocean of Being, even as it runs in the tradition, ' God
was, and there was naught but He, and it is now even
as it was then. Shall we say that God's creation is
co-existent with Him? Then we are Manicheans
and dualists, nay, polytheists; for we associate the
creature with the Creator. Can we say that the sum
of Being was increased at the time when the Phe-
nomenal World first appeared? Assuredly not; for
that would be to regard the Being of God as a thing
finite and conditioned, because capable of enlargement
and expansion. What then can we say, except that
even as God (who alone is endowed with real exist-
ence) was in the Beginning and will be in the End (if,
indeed, one may speak of ' Beginning' and ' End' where
Eternity is concerned, and where Time, the element of
this illusory dream which we call 'Life' has no place)
alone in His Infinite Splendor, so also, even now, He
alone is, and all else is but as a vision which disturbs
the night, a cloud which dims the Sun, or a ripple on
the bosom of the Ocean."
In such wise does the Sufi of Persia read the Koran
and expound its doctrine. Those who are familiar
with the different developments of Mysticism will
not need to be reminded that there is hardly any soil,
be it ever so barren, where it will not strike root;
hardly any creed, however stern, however formal,
round which it will not twine itself. It is, indeed,
the eternal cry of the human soul for rest; the insati-
able longing of a being wherein infinite ideals are
fettered and cramped by a miserable actuality; and so
long as man is less than an angel and more than a
Literature of Modem Persia 267
beast, this cry will not for a moment fail to make itself
heard. Wonderfully uniform, too, is its terror; in all
ages, in all countries, in all creeds, whether it come
from the Brahmin sage, the Greek philosopher, the
Persia poet, or the Christian quietist, it is an essence,
an enunciation more or less clear, more or less eloquent,
of the aspiration of the soul to cease altogether from
self, and to be at one with God. As such it must
awaken in all who are sensible of this need an echo
of sympathy; and therefore I feel that no apology is
required for adding a few words more on the ideas
which underlie all that is finest and most beautiful
in Persian poetry and Persian thought.
To the metaphysical conception of God as Pure
Being, and the ethical conception of God as the Eter-
nally Holy, the Sufi superadds another conception,
which may be regarded as the keynote of all Mysti-
cism. To him, above all else, God is the Eternally
Beautiful, — " Janan-i-Hakiki," the "True Beloved."
Before time was, He existed in His Infinite Purity,
unrevealed and unmanifest. Why was this state
changed? Why was the troubled phantasm of the
Contingent World evoked from the silent depths of
the Non-Existent ? Let me answer in the words of
Jami, who, perhaps, of all the mystic poets of Persia
best knew how to combine depth of thought with
sweetness and clearness of utterance. Poor as is my
rendering of this sublime song, it may still suffice to
give some idea of the original. The passage is from
his Yusuf u Zuleykha, and runs as follows: —
"In solitude, where Being signless dwelt,
And all the Universe still dormant lay
Concealed in selflessness, One Being was
268 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Exempt from T or 'Thou'-ness, and apart
From all duality ; Beauty Supreme,
Unmanifest, except unto Itself
By Its own light, yet fraught with power to charm
The souls of all ; concealed in the Unseen,
An Essence pure, unstained by aught of ill.
No mirror to reflect Its loveliness,
No comb to touch Its locks ; the morning breeze
Ne'er stirred Its tresses; no collyrium
Lent lustre to Its eyes : no rosy cheeks
O'ershadowed by dark curls like hyacinth,
Nor peach-like down was there ; no dusky mole
Adorned Its face ; no eye had yet beheld
Its image. To Itself it sang of love
Its wordless measure. By Itself it cast
The die of love.
But Beauty cannot brook
Concealment and the veil, nor patient rest
Unseen and unadmired : 'twill burst all bonds,
And from Its prison-casement to the world
Reveal Itself. See where the tulip grows
In upland meadows, how in balmy spring
It decks itself ; and how amidst its thorns
The wild rose rends its garment, and reveals
Its loveliness. Thou, too, when some rare thought,
Or beauteous image, or deep mystery
Flashes across thy soul, canst not endure
To let it pass, but hold'st it, that perchance
In speech or writing thou may'st send it forth
To charm the world.
Wherever Beauty dwells
Such is its nature, and its heritage
From Everlasting Beauty, which emerged
Literature of Modern Persia 269
From realms of purity to shine upon
The worlds, and all the souls which dwell therein.
One glass fell from It on the Universe,
And on the angels, and this single ray-
Dazzled the angels, till their senses whirled
Like the revolving sky. In diverse forms
Each mirror showed It forth, and everywhere
Its praise was chanted in new harmonies.
Each speck of matter did He constitute
A mirror, causing each one to reflect
The beauty of His visage. From the rose
Flashed forth His beauty, and the nightingale
Beholding it, loved madly. From that Light
The candle drew the lustre which beguiles
The moth to immolation. On the sun
His beauty shone, and straightway from the wave
The lotus reared its head. Each shining lock
Of Leyla's hair attracted Majnun's heart
Because some ray divine reflected shone
In her fair face. 'Twas He to Shirin's lips
Who lent that sweetness which had power to steal
The heart from Parviz, and from Ferhad life.
His beauty everywhere does show itself,
And through the form of earthly beauties shine
Obscured as through a veil. He did reveal
His face through Joseph's coat, and so destroyed
Zuleykha's peace. Where'er thou seest a veil,
Beneath that veil He hides. Whatever heart
Doth yield to love, He charms it. In his love
The heart hath life. Longing for Him, the soul
Hath victory. The heart which seems to love
The fair ones of this world, loves Him alone.
270 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Beware! say not, 'He is All-Beautiful,
And we His lovers.' Thou art but the glass,
And He the face confronting it, which casts
Its image on the mirror. He alone
Is manifest, and thou in truth art hid.
Pure Love, like Beauty, coming but from Him,
Reveals itself in thee. If steadfastly
Thou canst regard, thou wilt at length perceive
He is in the mirror also — He alike
The Treasure and the Casket. 'I,' and 'Thou'
Have here no place, and are but phantasies
Vain and unreal. Silence! for this tale
Is endless, and no eloquence hath power
To speak of Him. 'Tis best for us to love,
And suffer silently, being as naught."
But is this the sum of the Sufi's philosophy? Is he
to rest content with earthly love, because he knows
that the lover's homage is in truth rendered, not to
the shrine at which he offers devotion, but to the
Divine Glory — the Shekinah — which inhabits and
irradiates it? No so. Let us listen once more to the
utterance of Jami —
"Be thou the thrall of love; make this thine object;
For this one thing seemeth to wise men worthy.
Be thou love's thrall, that thou may'st win thy freedom,
Bear on thy breast its brand, that thou may'st blithe be,
Love's wine will warm thee, and will steal thy senses;
All else is soulless stupor and self-seeking.
Remembrances of love refresh the lover,
Whose voice when lauding love e'er waxeth loudest.
But that he drained a draught from this deep goblet,
In the wide worlds not one would wot of Majnun.
Thousands of wise and well-learned men have wended
Literature of Modern Persia 271
Through life, who, since for love they had no liking,
Have left nor name, nor note, nor sign, nor story,
Nor tale for future time, nor fame for fortune.
Sweet songsters 'midst the birds are found in plenty,
But when love's lore is taught by the love-learned,
Of moth and nightingale they most make mention.
Though in this world a hundred tasks thou triest,
'Tis love alone which from thyself will save thee.
Even from earthly love thy face avert not,
Since to the Real it may serve to raise thee.
Ere A, B, C are rightly apprehended,
How canst thou con the pages of thy Koran?
A sage (so heard I), unto whom a student
Came craving counsel on the course before him,
Said, ' If thy steps be strangers to love's pathways,
Depart, learn love, and then return before me!
For shouldst thou fear to drink wine from Form's flagon,
Thou canst not drain the draught of the Ideal.
But yet beware ! Be not by Form belated ;
Strive rather with all speed the bridge to traverse.
If to the bourne thou fain wouldst bear thy baggage
Upon the bridge let not thy footsteps linger."
The renunciation of self is the great lesson to be
learned, and its first steps may be learned from a
merely human love. But what is called love is often
selfish; rarely absolutely unselfish. The test of un-
selfish love is this, that we should be ready and will-
ing to sacrifice our own desires, happiness, even life
itself, to render the beloved happy, even though we
know that our sacrifice will never be understood or
appreciated, and that we shall therefore not be rewarded
for it by an increase of love or gratitude.
Such is the true love which leads us up to God.
272 Persia, the Land of the Magi
We love our fellow-creatures because there is in them
something of the Divine, some dim reflection of the
True Beloved, reminding our souls of their origin,
home, and destination. From the love of the reflec-
tion we pass to the love of the Light which casts it;
and, loving the Light, we at length become one with
It, losing the false self and gaining the True, therein
attaining at length to happiness and rest, and becom-
ing one with all that we have loved — the Essence of
that which constitutes the beauty alike of a noble
action, a beautiful thought, or a lovely face.
Such in outline is the Sufi philosophy. Beautiful
as it is, and worthy as it is of deeper study, I have
said as much about it as my space allows, and must
pass on to speak of other matters.
As in the Sufi doctrine, Being is conceived of as
one: "Al-vujudu hakikat vahidat basitat va lahu ma-
ratib mutafadhila :" — " Being is a single simple Reality,
and it has degrees differing in excellence." Poeti-
cally, this idea is expressed in the following quatrain:
" Majmu'a-i-kawn-ra bi-kanun-i-sabak
Kardin tasaffuh varak ba'da varak:
Hakka ki na-khwandim u na-didim dar-a
Juz Zat-i-Hakk, u sifat-i-zatiyye-i-Hakk."
"Like a lesson-book, the compendium of the Universe
We turned over, leaf after leaf :
In truth we read and saw therein naught
Save the Essence of God, and the Essential
Attributes of God."
The whole universe then, is to be regarded as the
unfolding, manifestation, or projection of God. It
is the mirror wherein He sees Himself; the arena
wherein His various Attributes display their nature.
Literature of Modern Persia 273
It is subsequent to Him not in sequence of time (for
time is merely the medium which encloses the phenom-
enal world, and which is, indeed, dependent on this
for its very existence), but in sequence of causation;
just as the light given off by a luminous body is sub-
sequent to the luminosity of that body in causation
(inasmuch as the latter is the source and origin of
the former, and that whereon it depends and whereby
it subsists), but not subsequent to it in time (because
it is impossible to conceive of any time in the existence
of an essentially luminous body antecedent to the
emission of light therefrom). This amounts to say-
ing that the Universe is co-eternal with God, but not
co-equal, because it is merely an Emanation dependent
on Him, while He has no need of it.
Just as the light proceeding from a luminous body
becomes weaker and more diffuse as it recedes from
its source, so the Emanations of Being becomes less
real, or, in other words, more gross and material, as
they become further removed from their focus and
origin. This gradual descent or recession from the
Primal Being, which is called the Kaws-i-Nuzul ("Arc
of Descent"), has in reality infinite grades, but a cer-
tain definite number (seven) is usually recognized.
Man finds himself in the lowest of these grades — the
Material World; but of that world he is the highest
development, for he contains in himself the poten-
tiality of reascent, by steps corresponding to those in
the "Arc of Descent," to God, his Origin, and His
Home. To discover how this return may be effected,
how the various stages of the Kaws-i-Su-'ud ("Arc of
Descent") may be traversed, is the object of philos-
ophy.
"The soul of man is corporeal in origin, but spiritual
274
Persia, the Land of the Magi
in continuance" ("An-nafsu fi'1-huduthi jismaniyya,
wa fi'1-baka'i tekunu ruhaniyya"). Born of matter, it
is yet capable of a spiritual development which will
lead it back to God, and enable it, during the span
of a mortal life, to accomplish the ascent from matter
to spirit, from the periphery to the centre. In the
"Arc of Ascent" also are numerous grades; but here
again, as in the "Arc of Descent," seven are usually
recognized. It may be well at this point to set down
in a tabular form these grades as they exist both in
the Macrocosm, or Arc of Descent, and in the Micro-
cosm, or Arc of Ascent, which is man:
I. Arc of Ascent.
Seven Principles in Man
(Lata'if-i-sab' a.)
1. The most subtle prin-
ciple (Akhfa).
2. The subtle principle
(Khafa).
3. The secret (Sirr).
4. The heart (Kalb).
5. The spirit (Ruh).
6. The soul (Nafs).
7. The nature (Tab').
II. Arc of Descent.
Series of Examinations.
1. Exploration of the
World of Divinity
(Seyr dar 'alam-i-
Lahut) .
2. The World of Divinity
(Alam-i-Lahut).
3. The World of the In-
telligences ('Alam-i-
Jabarut).
4. The World of the An-
gels ('Alam-i-Mala-
kut).
5. The World of Ideas
('Alam-i-Mana).
6. The World of Form
('Alam-i-Surat).
7. The Material World
('Alam-i-Tabi'at).
Literature of Modern Persia 27 5
A few words of explanation are necessary concern-
ing the above scheme. Each stage in either column
corresponds with that which is placed opposite to it.
Thus, for instance, the mere matter which in the
earliest stage of man's development constitutes his
totality corresponds to the material world to which it
belongs. In the material world the "Arc of Descent"
has reached its lowest point. In man, the highest pro-
duct of the material world, the ascent is begun. When
the human embryo begins to take form it rises to the
World of Soul, thus summing up in itself two grades
of the Arcs. It may never ascend higher than this
point; for, of course, when the upward evolution of
man is spoken of, it is not implied that this is effected
by all, or even by the majority of men. These "seven
principles" do not represent necessarily co-existing
components or elements, but successive grades of de-
velopment, at any one of which, after the first, the
process of growth may be arrested. The race exists
for its highest development ; humanity for the produc-
tion of the Perfect Man (Insan-i-Kamil) , who, sum-
ming up as he does all the grades of ascent from mat-
ter— the lowest point of the series of emanations —
to God, is described as the Microcosm, the compendium
of all the planes of Existence (hazrat-i-jami'), or some-
times as the "sixth plane" (hazrat-i-sadisa) , because he
includes and summarizes all the five spiritual planes.
It has been said that some men never rise beyond
the second grade — the World of Soul or Form. These
are such as occupy themselves entirely during their
lives with sensual pursuits — eating, drinking and the
like. Previously to Mulla Sadra it was generally held
by the philosophers that these perished entirely after
276 Persia, the Land of the Magi
death, inasmuch as they had not developed any really
spiritual principle. Mulla Sadra, however, took great
pains to prove that even in these cases where the
"Rational Soul" (Nafs-i-natika) had not been devel-
oped during life, there did exist a spiritual part which
survived death and resisted disintegration. This
spiritual part he called "Imaginations" (Khiyalat).
Yet even in this low state of development, where
no effort has been made to reach the plane of the
reason, a man may lead an innocent and virtuous life.
What will then be the condition after death of that
portion of him which survives the body? It cannot
re-enter the material world, for that would amount to
Metempsychosis, which, so far as I have been able to
ascertain, is uncompromisingly denied by all Persian
philosophers. Neither can it ascend higher in the
spiritual scale, for the period during which progress
was possible is past. Moreover, it derives no pleasure
from spiritual or intellectual experiences, and would
not be happy in one of the higher worlds, even could
it attain thereto. It desires material surroundings,
and yet cannot return to the material world. It there-
fore does what seems to it the next best thing: it
creates for itself subjective pseudo-material surround-
ings, and in this dream-dwelling it makes its eternal
home. If it has acted rightly in the world according
to its lights, it is happy; if wrongly, then miserable.
The happiness or misery of its hereafter depends on
its merit, but in either case it is purely subjective and
absolutely stationary. There is for it neither advance
nor return: it can neither ascend higher, nor re-enter
the material world either by transmigration or resur-
rection, both of which the philosophers deny.
Literature of Modem Persia 277
What has been said above applies, with slight
modifications, to all the other grades, at any rate the
lower ones. If a man has during his life in the world
attained to the grade of the spirit (the third grade in
order of ascent) and acquired rational or intellectual
faculties, he may still have used these well or ill. In
either case he enters after death into the World of
Ideas, where he is happy or miserable according to his
deserts. But, so far as I could learn, any one who has
during his life developed any of the four highest prin-
ciples passes after death into a condition of happiness
and blessedness, since mere intellect without virtue
will not enable him to pass beyond the third grade, or
World of the Spirit. According to the degree of devel-
opment which he has reached, he enters the world of
the Angels, the World of the Intelligences, or the
World of Divinity itself.
From what has been said it will be clear that a
bodily resurrection and a material hereafter are both
categorically denied by the philosophers. Neverthe-
less, states of subjective happiness or misery, practi-
cally constituting a heaven or hell, exist. These, as
has been explained, are of different grades in both
cases. Thus there is a "Paradise of Actions" (Jan-
natu '1-Af'al), where the soul is surrounded by an
ideal world of beautiful forms; a "Paradise of At-
tributes" (Jannatu 's-Sifat); and a "Paradise of the
Essence" (Jannatu z'-Zat), which is the highest of all,
for there the soul enjoys the contemplation of the
Divine Perfections, which hold it in an eternal rapture,
and cause it to forget and cease to desire all those
objects which constitute the pleasure of the denizens
278 Persia, the Land of the Magi
of the lower paradises. It is, indeed, unconscious of
aught but God, and is annihilated or absorbed by Him.
The lower subjective worlds, where the less fully
developed soul suffers or rejoices, are often spoken of
collectively as the 'Alam-i-Mithal ("World of Simili-
tudes"), or the 'Alam-i-Barzakh ("World of the Bar-
rier," or "Border-world"). The first term is applied
to it because each of its denizens takes a form corre-
sponding to his attributes. In this sense 'Omar Khay-
yam has said :
"Ruzi ki jeza-har sifat khwahad bud
Kadri-i-tu-bi-kadr-i-ma'rifat khwahad bud;
Dar husn-i-sifat kush, ki dar riz-i-jeza
Hashr-i-tu-bi-surat-i-sifat khwahad bud."
"On that day when all qualities shall receive their
recompense
Thy worth shall be in proportion to thy wisdom.
Strive after good qualities, for in the Day of Recom-
pense
Thy resurrection shall be in the form of the attribute."
We shall dwell no longer upon the names of Per-
sian poets, of whom the works of Nizami, Omar,
Keyoomi, Oorfi, and a hundred others, might be
cited as high examples of genius. We are not, however,
to imagine that all of them would convey pleasure
to the refined taste of Europe. They contain many
beautiful thoughts, and their diction is frequently
mellifluous and expressive; but these excellences are
constantly disfigured by extravagance and bombast;
while the mind is fatigued by the repetition of meta-
phors, and similes, which are often miserably poor.
Literature of Modern Persia 279
"Yet notwithstanding all these defects," observes an
Eastern traveler and scholar, "if the end of poetry
be to please, the Persian poets are eminently success-
ful ; nor will I believe that any one who really under-
stood Hafiz ever laid aside his book without having
received much satisfaction from the perusal of his
odes."
In the present day, this species of writing appears
to have suffered the fate of all other things in Persia.
"The poets," says the historian of that country, "are
still greater flatterers than the astrologers. The great
majority are poor, and from their numbers it is quite
impossible it should be otherwise. Every person of
moderate education may, if he prefer a life of idleness
to one of industry, assume the name of bard, and the
merest rhymer receives some respect from the honored
appellation. While some chant the wonderful deeds
of the king or principal chiefs or compose collections
of odes (divans) on the mystical subjects of Divine
love, others are content with panegyrizing the virtues,
wisdom, bravery and discernment of those who bestow
their bounty upon them, or allow them a place at their
table; they make epigrams to amuse their patrons,
and are ready either to recite their own verses, or to
show their knowledge by quoting the finest passages
in the works of others; the facilities of education at
the numerous medressas (colleges), and the indul-
gence which the usages of these seminaries invite, pro-
duce a swarm of students, who pass their useless lives
in indolence and poverty."
Professor A. Williams Jackson in his book "Persia
Past and Present," pp. 30 and 31, says that the title
of Persian literature to a place among the great liter-
280 Persia, the Land of the Magi
atures of the world is a recognized one, and it is in
this domain perhaps that Persia makes the greatest
claim upon our interest. In age the Avesta and the
Old Persian inscriptions carry us back at least to the
sixth century before Christ, and possibly earlier; the
Pahlavi literature belongs to the Sassanian period from
the third to the sixth century after Christ; and the
Modern Persian began within the last thousand years.
It sprang up a century or two after the Arab conquest
as a renaissance movement with the revival of the old
national feeling; and this period is certainly the most
interesting of all. Some knowledge of Firdausi, Saadi,
and Hafiz belongs to true culture, and Omar Khayyam
has become an English classic through Fitz-Gerald's
version. The less-known names of the romantic
poetic Nizami, the dervish Jalal Ad Din Rumi, and
the mystic Jami (d. 1492), the last classic poet of
Persia, should be mentioned as deserving to be known
to lovers of literature.
As to the influence of Persia upon English poetry.
Persia was hardly known to England before the six-
teenth century, yet Chaucer alludes to Persian blue,
"pers" in the Prologue. Among the Elizabethans,
Preston dramatized the story of Cambises; Marlowe
has Persian names and Persian scenes in his Tambur-
laine, and Shakespere in The Merchant of Venice, and
alludes to a voyage to Persia in his Comedy of Errors.
Milton summarizes the early history of Persia in
the third book of his Paradise Regained, besides
referring to "Ecbatan," "Hispahan," "Tauris," and
"Casbeen" in Paradise Lost. Shelley appears to have
a faint reminiscence of the pillared halls at Persepolis
in his Alastor, and Byron in the Giaour and Landor
Literature oj Modern Persia 281
in the Gebir hark back to the old Zoroastrian faith
of Iran. Matthew Arnold and Edmund Gosse, as
poetical writers, came under Firdausi's spell, and a
dozen other instances might be mentioned where Persia
has influenced English poets, one of the best known
being Tom Moore, whose Lalla Rookh is full of the
melody, perfume, color, beauty, tenderness, and trem-
ulous ecstasy which imagination associates with the
East.
In the realm of English prose the two volumes of
Persian Tales by Ambrose Philips, after a French
version, were widely read in the latter part of the
eighteenth century, and the familiar Arabian Nights
are really largely Persian. The inimitable Persian
novel Hajji Baba of Ispahan, by Morier, is so thor-
oughly Oriental that Persians who read English mis-
take it for a serious composition and take umbrage
at some of its amusing accounts. One of our Ameri-
can contemporaries, moreover, the novelist Marion
Crawford, chose Zoroaster as a character around which
to weave a romantic story.
CHAPTER XV.
Poems from Persian Literature.
fair shiraz.
MAY every blessing be the lot
Of fair Shiraz, earth's loveliest spot.
Oh, heaven ! bid Tie its beauties spare,
Nor print his wasteful traces there.
Still be thou blest of him that gave
Thy stream, sweet Ruknabad, whose wave
Can every human ill assuage,
And life prolong to Khizer's age.
And oh the gale that wings its way
Twixt Jaffrabad and Mosalay;
How sweet a perfume does it bear !
How grateful is its amber air!
Ye who mysterious joys would taste,
Come to this sacred city — haste ;
Its saints, its sages seek to know,
Whose breasts with heavenly rapture glow.
And say, sweet gale — for thou canst tell —
With lovely Laili was it well,
When last you passed the maiden by,
Of wayward will and witching eye ?
Why, Hafiz, when you feared the day
That tore you from her arms away,
Oh, why so thankless for the hours
You passed in Laili's lovely bowers?
(282)
Literature of Modern Persia 283
THE FEAST OF SPRING.
My breast is filled with roses,
My cup is crowned with wine,
And the veil her face discloses —
The maid I hail as mine.
The monarch, whereso'er he be,
Is but a slave compared to me.
Their glare no torches throwing,
Shall in our bower be found- —
Her eyes, like moonbeams glowing,
Cast light enough around;
And other odors I can spare
Who scent the perfume of her hair.
The honey-dew thy charm might borrow,
Thy lip alone to me is sweet;
When thou art absent, faint with sorrow
I hide me in some lone retreat.
Why talk to me of power or fame?
What are those idle toys to me ?
Why ask the praises of my name,
My joy, my triumph is in thee.
How blest am I ! around me swelling
The notes of melody arise!
I hold the cup with wine excelling,
And gaze upon thy radiant eyes.
Oh, Hafiz — never waste thy hours
Without the cup, the lute, and love,
For 'tis the sweetest time of flowers
And none these moments shall reprove.
The nightingales around thee sing:
k_ It is the joyous feast of spring.
284 Persia, the Land of the Magi
MY BIRD.
My soul is as a sacred bird, the highest heaven its
nest,
Fretting within its body-bars, it finds on earth its
nest;
When rising from its dusty heap this bird of mine
shall soar,
'Twill find upon the lofty gate the nest it had before.
The Sidrah shall receive my bird, when it has winged
its way,
And on the Empyrean's top my falcon's foot shall stay.
Over the ample field of earth is fortune's shadow cast,
Whereupon wings and pennons borne this bird of mine
has past.
No spot in the two worlds it owns, above the sphere its
goal,
Its body from the quarry is, from "No Place" is its
soul.
'Tis only in the glorious world my bird its splendor
shows,
The rosy bowers of Paradise its daily food bestows.
THE FAIREST LAND.
Tell me, gentle traveler, thou
Who hast wandered far and wide —
Seen the sweetest roses blow,
And the brightest rivers glide;
Say, of all thine eyes have seen,
Which the fairest land has been?"
Lady, shall I tell thee where
Nature seems most blest and fair,
Literature of Modern Persia 285
Far above all climes beside?
Tis where those we love abide,
And that little spot is best
Which the loved one's foot hath pressed.
Though it be a fairy space,
Wide and spreading is the place ;
Though 'twere but a barren mound,
'Twould become enchanted ground;
With thee, yon sandy waste would seem
The margin of Al-Cawthar's stream;
And thou canst make a dungeon's gloom
A bower where new-born roses bloom.
NIZAMI S VERSES OF FARHAD S TRAGIC LOVE FOR
SHIREEN.
On lofty Beysitoun, the lingering sun
Looks down on ceaseless labors long begun :
The mountain trembles to the echoing sound
Of falling rocks, that from her sides rebound.
Each day — all respite, all repose denied,
No truce, no pause — the thundering strokes are plied
The mist of night around her summit coils,
But still Ferhad, the lover-artist, toils,
And still — the flashes of his axe between —
He sighs to ev'ry wind, "Alas! Shireen!
Alas ! Shireen — my task is well nigh done,
The goal in view for which I strive alone.
Love grants me power that nature might deny;
And whatsoe'er my doom, the world shall tell,
Thy lower grave to immortality
Her name he loved — so fatally — so well !
The piles give, the rocky peaks divide,
The stream comes gushing on — a foaming tide.
286 Persia, the Land of the Magi
A mighty work, for ages to remain,
The token of his passion and his pain.
As flows the milky flood from Allah's throne,
Rushes the torrent from the yielding stone ;
And sculptured there, amazed, stern Khosru stands,
And sees, with frowns, obeyed his harsh commands :
While she, the fair beloved, with being rife,
Awakes the glowing marble into life. . . .
Around the pair, lo ! groups of courtiers wait,
And slaves and pages crowd in solemn state ;
From columns imaged wreaths their garlands throw
And fretted roofs with stars appear to glow;
Fresh leaves and blossoms seem around to spring,
And feathered songs their loves are murmuring;
The hands of Peris might have wrought those stems,
Where dewdrops hang their fragile diadems ;
And springs of pearl and sharp-cut diamonds shine,
New from the wave, or recent from the mine.
"Alas, Shireen," at every stroke he cries;
At every stroke fresh miracles arise.
"For thee these glories and these wonders all,..
For thee I triumph, for thee I fall ;
For thee my life one ceaseless toil has been,
Inspire my soul anew — Alas, Shireen!"
Ah, hapless youth ! Ah, toil repaid with woe !
A king thy rival, and the world thy foe.
"Cease, idle youth, to waste thy days," she said,
By empty hopes a visionary made ;
Why in vain toil thy fleeting life consume
To frame a palace? Rather hew a tomb.
Even like sere leaves that autumn winds have shed,
Perish thy labors, for — Shireen is dead!"
Literature of Modern Persia 287
He heard the fatal news — no word, no groan;
He spoke not, moved not, — stood transfixed to stone.
Then with a frenzied he raised on high
His arms, and wildly tossed them towards the sky;
Far in the wide expanse his axe he flung,
And from the precipice at once he sprung.
The rocks, the sculptured caves, the valleys green,
Sent back his dying cry — "Alas! Shireen."
RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM.
The Astronomer-Poet of Persia.
(Quotations from the fourth edition of Fitzgerald's Poems.)
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face,
Lighting a little hour or two — was gone.
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way.
They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep ;
And Bahrain, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep.
Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close !
The Nightingale that in the branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!
288 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Some for the Glories of this World ; and some
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum !
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road;
But not the master-knot of human fate.
There was the Door to which I found no Key;
There was the Veil through which I might not see ;
Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me.
Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn ;
Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn.
A Hair perhaps divides the False and True ;
Yes, and a single Alif were the clue —
Could you but find it — to the treasure house,
And peradventure to the Master too.
We are no other than a moving row
Of magic shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illimun'd Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;
But helpless pieces of the Game He plays
Upon his chequer-board of Nights and Days.
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the closet lays.
Literature of Modern Persia 289
What ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke !
What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid
Pure gold for what he lent him dross — allay' d —
Sue for a debt we never did contract,
And cannot answer — Oh, the sorry trade !
Indeed the idols I have loved so long
Have done my credit in this World much wrong;
Have drowned my Glory in a shallow Cup,
And sold my reputation for a Song.
Ah Love ! could you and I with Him conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's desire.
When You and I behind the Veil are past,
Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,
Which of our Coming and Departure heeds
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.
I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell :
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answere'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell:"
Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill 'd Desire,
And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire
Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves
So late emerg'd, shall so soon expire.
290 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Would but some winged Angel ere too late
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate,
And make the stern Recorder otherwise
Enregister, or quite obliterate!
Yon rising Moon that looks for us again —
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane ;
How oft hereafter rising look for us
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain!
And when like her, oh Saki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter' d on the Grass,
And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Persian Textile Arts.
[A description of ancient and modern carpets, runners and rugs, including
a detailed discourse of contemporary arts and industries.]
IT is impossible in the compass of a single chapter
to give more than a cursory glance at the most
important branches of art which, directly or indi-
rectly, have bearing upon the particular art under
consideration. There are some nations the mention of
which suggests thoughts of some particular industry
or art; similarly, any reference to such industry or
art forms a connection in the mind with the country
of its origin or development. This intimate associa-
tion, which has been developed into a system of hiero-
glyphics, seems to be the simplest means of dealing
with the object-lesson I wish to draw, my aim being
to demonstrate, as far as my own personal observa-
tion and reading will permit, that with the extreme
probability of kindred arts progressing side by side,
as far as they are indigenous, the presence of any par-
ticular art or industry from the beginning of things
in any country or clime affords sufficient grounds for
assuming that the arts of weaving, of which carpet
weaving can be reasonably suggested as the first,
equally existed ; and further, it is my intention to point
out, by inference, that the exigencies created from the
use of carpets and similar textiles had direct influence
upon most of the industries and arts referred to in this
important section.
The first difficulty to be faced in any endeavor to
(291)
292 Persia, the Land of the Magi
treat such an extended subject in a manner approach-
ing chronological order is the wide divergence of opin-
ion as to the earliest period at which anything instinc-
tive in the direction of industry or art may be supposed
to have existed. It may be granted that such instincts
were co-existent with life itself, or, as has in the head-
ing of this chapter been asserted, with sight, which is
tantamount to the same thing.
A paragraph in Blair's "Chronological Tables,"
dealing with the first ages of the world's history, says :
"Dr. Hales has enumerated 120 different 'Epochs of
the Creation,' — the earliest 6984, and the latest 3616
years B.C. The like confusion prevails as to the date
of the Noachian Deluge, which is assigned to fifteen
different periods between the years 3246 and 2104
B. C." This was written in 1856; probably later
discoveries in archaeology and the results of scientific
examinations with more accurate instruments have
narrowed the field of inquiry, and brought closer har-
mony into the various schools of thought. However,
even in the latest edition (1906) of one of the leading
books of reference generally used in this country, the
seeker after truth finds little comfort in his desire to
approximate as nearly as may be to the current scien-
tific knowledge, for under the heading "Creation of
the World," we read: "The date given by the English
Bible, and by Usher, Blair, and some others, is 4004
B. C. Dr. Hales gives 5411 B. C."
I have no inclination to indulge in speculation when
it comes to the treatment of matter-of-fact questions,
and in the absence of more definite guidance I shall
continue to hold to the Bible Chronology, which at
least has the merit of not being shifty.
The Persian Textile Arts 293
When we realize the influence of such men as Alex-
ander the Great, Alaric, Attila, Tamerlane, Charle-
magne and Napoleon, it is hard to accept any defini-
tions of the particular periods into which the various
ages of man have been divided. The Golden Age of
dreams of perfect bliss and happiness; the Stone Age,
which suggests the retrograde; the Bronze Age; the
Iron Age — these, in their broad divisions, have afforded
a guide for scientific classification which has prevented
thought from wandering in a circle or in parallel
lines; but in considering the low state of civilization
still existing in many parts of the world, and even
the wide differences between the nations in whom
some point of contact in these days of widely-diffused
knowledge should surely have been arrived at, the
influence of the "super-man" upon the history of the
world is forced more strongly than ever.
In dealing with the unknown influences which have
been brought to bear upon the history of human devel-
opment, theories must of necessity be permissible.
I venture to put forward one of my own, to account
for the differences in mental and physical capacity
allowed by history to have existed in past ages, and
existing at the present day, in directions where the
introduction of any strange human element is jealously
resented.
The biblical account of the building of the Tower of
Babel, and the confusion of tongues resulting, is an
historical fact in so far that scientific men, such as
Layard, Rawlinson and Rassam, have examined and
described the ruins at various times. Interesting as
these discoveries undoubtedly are, it is impossible to
say at this time how far the biblical records gave name
294 Persia, the Land of the Magi
to the ruins most nearly answering to the description,
or how far the presence of such ruins in remoter ages
gave rise to a reason for their presence; which, in the
light of the license allowed to fable, must be one of the
most confusing impediments in the search for practical
truth.
The rise and fall of nations is sufficiently well known
to make special reference here invidious, especially in
view of recent adjustments of the balances of power;
but it may be said that without exception the varia-
tions in the scale of fortune can be traced to the pre-
dominance of particular individuals, and the balance
rises and falls to just the degree in which such indi-
viduals are endowed with a desire for mere personal
aggrandizement and gratification, or with the true
regard for their special spheres of influence for good,
and the happiness and progress of the peoples com-
mitted to their charge.
What is true of rulers and princes is equally true of
science, art, literature and industry. An advance
results from the energies of a genius which knows no
distinctions of birth or rank; and reaction comes from
the lack of a follower of equal capacity, or even from the
contrast of capacities, perhaps even in the same direc-
tion; for as nature abhors a vacuum, she equally abhors
the monotony of repetition, and it is the very rare
exception for individuals of equal gifts in the same
direction to have the fortune to consolidate what has
been initiated. William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham,
and his second son, William Pitt, the Great Commoner,
occur to the mind; and other instances in ruling fam-
ilies of the present time will bear witness to the excep-
tions. It more often happens, however, that the very
The Persian Textile Arts 295
heights to which an exceptional capacity will raise a
nation, in any of the directions indicated, to the high-
est summits attainable at the time, form an abyss on
the other side which by very contrast acts towards
the demolishment of the fabric built up by brains and
cemented with blood.
This is a wide digression; but the subject has the
closest relation to any study of the arts and industries,
which at different periods have been influenced in one
direction or another in precisely the same way as in
broader aspects nations have for a time ruled the world,
and by sudden effects of usurpation, or of revolution,
have changed their course at the bidding of one Great
Man, or have changed by a gradual process of decay,
having also for its origin the weakness and ineffective-
ness or moral degradation of a particular ruling fam-
ily, drifting down from the giddiest heights with the
imperceptibleness but the inexorable steady decline of
a glacier.
I prefer to be on the side of the poets, and to believe
that Adam and Eve and their first progeny were, as
the Bible leads us to believe, made in God's own image,
and consequently not only endowed with the capacity
the world has on occasions shown in the exceptional
men and women already cited, but also, being free from
accumulated hereditary traits, having particular advan-
tages in the free assimilation of what nature at its best
afforded, which gave them a distinct superiority over
future generations, who had in successive ages much
to overcome before arriving at the stage in which early
innocence left no room for distractions from the ideal
state.
Leaving chronology to take care of itself for a time,
296 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Egypt first calls for attention, and Egypt, in spite of
colossal remains denoting a high stage of architectural
progress, remains in the mind as the home of the Pyra-
mids and the mysterious Sphinx, which, emblematical
of the mystery surrounding the aeons of time which
preceded it, typically throws doubt upon the human
penetration which has failed to discover its secret.
The late Mr. James Fergusson, in his "History of
Architecture," writes of the great Pyramids of Ghizeh
as being one point of Egyptian history which can with
some certainty be ascribed to the kings of the fourth
dynasty, which places the date of their erection between
3000 and 3500 B. C. This will serve as a starting-
point in dealing with the subject of this slight sketch,
and none more impressive could possibly have been
selected with deliberate choice.
Mr. Fergusson writes of the wonderful mechanical
skill shown in the construction of the Pyramids, of
which the greatest, that of Khufu, or (as it is more
familiarly called) Cheops, can be taken as an example.
The arrangements made for carrying off the water in
connection with the inner chambers, the ventilation
and the wonderful resource shown in its construction,
call for the admiration of those qualified to appreciate
the difficulties to be faced, which would tax the great-
est efforts modern mechanical skill and appliances
could bring to bear upon such a work. Immense
blocks of granite for its construction were brought
from Syene — a distance of 500 miles — and each one
was polished like glass, and the joints were so wonder-
fully fitted that the eye could hardly discern where
one rested upon the other.
It is to be remembered, in considering the extraor-
The Persian Textile Arts 297
dinary perfection shown in dealing with each separate
item of construction in a gigantic work of this class,
that human life and labor were cheap; and it may be
assumed that under the lash of the taskmasters there
would be no waste of time, and that, with the proba-
bility of torture or loss of life being meted out for the
most trifling error, any possibility of defects sufficient
to cause the rejection of a stone by the master-architect
was safely guarded against. The polishing and
fitting of a single stone would probably engage the
undivided attention of as large a body of men as could
work at a time, possibly in relays, night and day; and
with the whole plan carefully subdivided, and each
section carried on continuously, the whole would be
completed in a space of time which would compare
favorably with the greatest expedition possible in the
present day.
A writer in the Evening Standard and St. James's
Gazette, under date February 1, 1906, in a paragraph
headed "Sealed with Blood," suggests so tellingly the
complete indifference to human life displayed in the
construction of these marvelous remains of a great age,
that I venture to reproduce a portion of it: "Anciently
it swelled a man's triumph if his works were costly
in human lives. The making of the Red Sea canal
is asserted to have involved the loss of no fewer
than one hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians.
Buckle's examination made him believe the number
to have been somewhat exaggerated, but he gives it as
still a guide to the men who would have two thousand
slaves engaged for three years bringing a single stone
from Elephantine to the Pyramids would not care a
great deal so long as for the twenty years in which
298 Persia, the Land of the Magi
one of the pyramids was building there were forth-
coming the three hundred and sixty thousand men
required for the work."
Think of this vast work, finished with such nicety
that upon completion it had the appearance of being a
solid block of granite! A highly gifted woman, on
May 28, 1793, recorded: "Went to see some drawings
in the possession of a Mr. Greaves, a person who
accompanied Messrs. Berners and Tilson in their expe-
dition into Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt. The draw-
ings are most accurately executed, and are assured to
be faithful portraits. It was the opinion of those gentle-
men after minute examination that the Pyramids
are works of art, and not huge masses of rock pol-
ished and shaped into their present form." Such are
the words recorded in the journal of Lady Holland,
recently edited by the Earl of Ilchester. This com-
ment upon the minuteness of finish of a work of such
proportions recalls Sir W. W. Hunter's description of
Shah Jahan's tribute to the memory of his wife, the
lovely Mumtaz Mahal, the far-famed Taj Mahal,
which he describes as a dream in marble, "designed
by Titans and finished by jewellers." This wonderful
example of Indian architecture will be fully dealt with
in my closing chapter; but it is a useful comparison
with the methods described in the construction of the
Pyramids to say that the Taj Mahal is supposed to
have necessitated the employment of 20,000 men for
the space of twenty-two years, during which time —
in the expressive language of Mr. Kipling — men were
"used up like cattle."
There is no need to deal in detail with the architec-
tural arts of the Chaldeans, although it is interesting
The Persian Textile Arts 299
to note the probable date, 2234 B.C., assigned by Fer-
gttsson to the palace of Nimrod, and to call attention
to a plate entitled "Elevation of Wall at Wurka
(from the Report of the Assyrian Excavation Fund)."
This, the main feature of which consists of narrow
diagonal lines of a light tint, forming lozenge spaces,
enclosing similarly-shaped forms in a darker tinge,
clearly suggests textile design; and in this and other
features of a plan formed by horizontal zigzag white,
light and dark lines, this ancient piece of ornamental
work has a cuiious resemblance to the native woven
garments of the Maoris, referred to at the end of this
chapter.
The fall of Nineveh, accompanied by the death of
the last king of Assyria, opens the way to a somewhat
more detailed consideration of the great empire of
Persia, of which Chardin relates the saying that its
extent is so vast that winter and summer rule at one
and the same time within the compass of its boun-
daries. Persepolis, with its close connection with the
empire which gave its name, claims attention by its
palace of Darius, and the "hundred-columned hall of
A.rtaxerxes."
In dealing with the architectural arts of Persia, Fer-
gusson writes: "By a fortunate accident the Persians
used stone where the Assyrians used only wood, and
consequently many details of their architecture have
come down to our day which would otherwise have
passed away had the more perishable materials of their
predecessors been made use of." After referring to
the wonderful stone temples of Thebes and Memphis,
he proceeds: "It is easy to see how little the arts of
the Assyrians were changed by their successors. The
300 Persia, the Land of the Magi
winged lions and bulls that adorn the portals at Per-
sepolis are practically identical with those of Nineveh."
As one of my main points in attempting this sketch
of the ancient arts is a desire to trace in the perfected
carpet of the reign of Shah Abbas the Great the hered-
itary influence of the ancient nations which preceded
them, this similarity in the architectural arts mentioned
above is of the first importance. It establishes the
link which, from the first one forged by Adam, prob-
ably passed in a continuous chain through the medium
of the race he left behind him, the leaders of which
successively added their links to form the chain from
Adam ("Le nom d'Adam, dans les langues orientales,
est un nom generique, qui signifie homme en general,
et par excellence, le premier homme" — Char din) to the
year A. D. 1909. This seems to be a modest claim,
in view of the fact that in an introductory article by
Sir George Birdwood to the "Vienna Carpet Book,"
he writes: "No limit this side of 5000 B. C. can be
given as the first date of carpet manufacture." Think
of a chain of evidence the links of which, beginning
with Adam (4004 B. C.) include among the Egyptian
kings, Menes (3906 B. C.), Khufu (3500-3000 B. C.),
Osirtasen (2300 B. C.?), Amenhotep I (1830 B. C),
Rameses I (1436 B. C.); these, strengthened by con-
necting links afforded by the Chaldean Nimrod (2234
B. C.?), Sin Shada (1700 B. C), and Purna Puryas
(1600 B. C), lead to the Assyrian Shalmaneser I
(1290 B. C), Shamas Iva (822 B. C), Sennacherib
(704 B. C), and Sardanapalus (667 B. C). Cyrus
the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, forms the
first link of the Persian chain, probably making up for
the weakness of the effete Sardanapalus, who, by the
The Persian Textile Arts 301
nature of his death, may be said to have welded the
link of Assyria with Persia, which, in spite of chro-
nology, will serve the purpose of my illustration. Cyrus,
in overthrowing the Medo-Babylonian monarchy
(557 B. C), and his son Cambyses in conquering Egypt
(525 B. C.) probably in so doing inoculated their own
kingdom with the best that the conquered nations had
to afford, and, with the Oriental love of luxury and
splendor, did not fail either in transferring to their
own capitals the spoils from the palaces of the kings,
or in selecting banks of artists and artisans for the
purpose of establishing industries which, from the
constancy of a lucrative demand, would add so much
to the general prosperity of their country, and thus
secure the good will of the inhabitants.
Darius I (521 B. C), Xerxes I (485 B. C), Alexan-
der the Great (330-323 B. C.)— I follow M. Bouillet's
" Dictionnaire universel d'histoire et de geographie" —
begin the great line of Persian kings, which, with an
interval from the death of Alexander at Babylon
(323 B. C.) to the Persian revolt (A. D. 226), during
which the rule of the country devolved upon the dynas-
ties of the Seleucidas and the Arsacidas, includes such
names as Artaxerxes I (A. D. 226), Sapor I (A. D. 238),
Hormisdas I (A. D. 271), Narses (A. D. 296), Chrosroes
the Great (A. D. 531), Mahmoud (A. D. 999), Moham-
med I (A. D. 1105), Genghis Khan (A. D. 1225), and
Tamerlane (A. D. 1360-1405), the Tartar conquerors,
and the first of the great Sophi dynasty, Ismail I
(A. D. 1499). Shah Abbas the Great, third son of
the Sultan Mohammed Khodabundeh, came to the
throne in A. D. 1585, in spite of a peremptory and
repeated order from Ismail III to put the young Abbas
302 Persia, the Land of the Magi
to death in order to secure his throne. In view of. the
great influence Abbas I had upon the fortunes of, Per-
sia, it is interesting to record that his life was spared
in consequence of the superstition of the powerful
chief, Aly Kooli Khan, who had been ordered to slay
him, but refrained until the sacred month of Ramazan
had passed, before the end of which brief respite Ismail
died, and the glory of Persia was saved.
Chardin relates that Shah Abbas II had made for
him a tent costing two millions of francs, or roughly
£80,000, which was called the "Golden Pavilion," on
account of the lavishness with which gold was used in
its decoration and appointments. The price gives some
idea of the materials, richness of manufacture, and
general effect; and its importance as an abode "fit for
a king" is demonstrated by the fact that it required
close upon 250 camels to transport it from place to
place. The antechamber was made of gold-brocaded
velvet, upon the upper band of which this inscription
was worked: "If you ask how long this throne of the
Second Solomon was in making, I reply, Behold the
throne of the Second Solomon." The letters of these
last words formed a cipher representing a period of
1,057 years. This grandiloquence is characteristic of
the nation, and with Orientals adds beauty and grace;
it has to be taken into account when forming a precise
estimate of things artistic and monetary.
In giving evidence of the richness and importance
of the tents used by the Persian monarchs, my inten-
tion is to emphasize to what a great extent the use of
the carpet was on all occasions required to give to the
floors the same harmony and balance of effect which
the amount expended on the tent itself would make a
The Persian Textile Arts 303
matter of absolute necessity to an artistic eye. Chardin
remarks, in his fifth volume, upon the strict observ-
ance of all the forms of etiquette, and the elaborate
service, which was carried out as much in the monarch's
country fetes as in his capital. The tents were divided
into rooms, just as was the case in the buildings, the
only difference being an absence of some of the magnifi-
cence which made the latter unequaled in the world.
Our author proceeds to give an account of the pavilion
used by the king when giving audience to the Dutch
Ambassador at Hyrcania. This tent-pavilion was 60
feet in length, 35 in width, and something under 30
feet in height. After speaking of the massiveness of
the supporting poles and the elaborate features of the
internal arrangements, those visible to the outside
world being made to serve as indications of the might
and majesty of the monarch, Chardin mentions the
interesting fact that the carpets were held firmly to
the ground by means of orange-shaped gold weights
of about five pounds each, placed in rows four feet
apart.
As frequently happens throughout the work, just at
the point where Chardin's information with regard to
the designs and colorings of the carpets used would
have made his book absolutely indispensable to all
lovers of art, he branches off to the consideration of
similar weights used in connection with the king's
(consideration) throne, and the rich stuffs around it.
These weights were studded with precious stones,
which accounts for the predilection shown in their
description and disposition. In the same way, in
describing the liberality with which the Persian mon-
arch paid and treated the chief officers who had charge
304 Persia, the Land of the Magi
of the various departments of art industry, in which
he had a direct pecuniary interest, Chardin, after men-
tioning that the chiefs with their staff of workmen are
grouped in the various studios or workshops according
to their professions, proceeds to say that "the emolu-
ments of the chief of the jewellers will serve to illus-
trate all the rest;" and the same principle quite natu-
rally places before the reader a large amount of infor-
mation upon the particular subject which interests the
author, while having an exasperating effect upon the
lover of the fine old Oriental carpets, upon the manu-
facture of which the keen-sighted lover of precious
stones could have brought a useful scrutiny.
In referring to the ornamentation of houses, Chardin
mentions painting as the decoration most frequently
used; sculpture was rarely employed, and then it
mostly consisted of flowers and foliage roughly chiseled
in the plater ; the relief, which is low, remains wh te,
while the groundwork is gray; they finally paint the
relief work, touching it up with gold and blue, which
gives to the ornament a beautiful effect. These
moresque paintings on the buildings are very choice,
and present an attractive appearance, the dryness of
the air preserving the colors in all their original fresh-
ness and brilliancy. Chardin states that he has never
seen the Persian colors excelled for clearness, brilliancy
and depth, in which they approach nature. The
moistness of European climates clouds the colors used,
causing them to deteriorate and lose their freshness,
in such a fashion that it may well be said that those
who are not familiar with the Oriental coloring in its
own home cannot form a proper impression of nature's
colors in their most brilliant aspect.
The Persian Textile Arts 305
Chardin speaks in glowing terms of the beautiful
enameled porcelains manufactured in Persia, which, he
asserts, excel those of China, ancient and modern.
The clever workers in this artistic industry attribute
the beauty and quality of the colors to the water, say-
ing that there are some waters which dissolve the color
and give it body; while others refuse to assimilate it
properly, and hold it without being able to impart it.
In speaking of the subject of dyeing generally,
Chardin remarks that the art was more advanced in
Persia than in Europe, the colors having more depth
and brilliancy, and also being faster; this, however,
he attributes less to art than to the air and the climate
generally, which, being dry and pure, enhances the
brightness of the tints, while the dyes themselves, being
natural to the country, are used in their freshness, and
consequently with their full essential essences. These
are points to bear in mind when considering the supe-
riority of the art of carpet manufacture as practised
in the countries of its origin ; all the factors mentioned
are of the first importance, and again bear witness to
the immense influence nature has in propagating and
fostering the arts.
In dealing with the manufactures of the country,
the author speaks particularly of the cotton, goat's
hair, camel's hair and wool industries, and makes spe-
cial reference to the silk, which, being abundant in
Persia, is largely used and forms one of the most
important manufactures of the country. Many details
are given as to the method of treating the silk. Char-
din writes with the greatest appreciation of the beauty
of the brocades, some of which, worked in gold, are the
most beautiful and dearest in the world; in fact, the
306 Persia, the Land of the Magi
reader is gratified with the fullest information as to the
value and merits of the fabrics, with incidental infor-
mation as to the wages paid to the workers. He also
mentions the fact that even after twenty or thirty-
years the gold and silver thread used in the rich bio-
cades do not tarnish; this again he attributes to the
purity of the air and the excellence of the workman-
ship, presumably including the preparation of the
materials.
Criticizing the art of painting, Chardin speaks of
the easy-going, idle ways of the Orientals, who have
little desire for work, and only then for necessaries.
Their finest paintings, as also sculpture, turnery and
other arts, of which the beauty consists in faithfully
following nature, only have value in the country of
production and in nations equally affected by climatic
conditions. They think that, such arts not having
any direct bearing upon actual human needs, they do
not merit special attention; in fact, they have no very
great regard for the arts; as a result of which they
are little cultivated, in spite of the fact that as a nation
the Persians are intelligent, discerning, patient and
frank, and, if liberally paid, succeed in what they
undertake. Chardin remarks, further, that they do not
show much energy in seeking out new inventions and
discoveries, being content with what they possess of
the necessities of life, buying from foreign countries
instead of introducing the manufacture of new articles
into their own.
In an earlier volume, in referring to the costumes of
the Persians, Chardin deals with this characteristic of
Eastern nations — their disinclination to give up their
own habits and customs, and reluctance to introduce
The Persian Textile Arts 307
innovations — which makes the study of ancient man-
ners and customs so particularly interesting and valu-
able, especially from an artistic point of view, as the
preservation of early introduction of foreign elements.
Chardin's illustration of the tenacity with which the
Persians adhere to old customs is important when we
consider the probability of the art of carpet manufac-
ture, in common with the kindred arts, having come
down to us from the remotest times, without other
changes than are natural to increased facilities of pro-
duction, both as regards the appliances and as regards
the personal influence of the rulers, who, deriving
their income in some part from privileged manufac-
tures, may be supposed to have a standard of perfec-
tion. Chardin writes : ' ' The costumes of the Orientals
are not subject to fashion; they are invariably made
in the same style; and if the prudence of a nation is
shown by this constancy, the Persians are worthy of
all praise, for they not only adhere to the same style
of dress, but even to shades of the same colors, and in
the same materials. I have seen robes worn by Tamer-
lane, which are preserved in the treasury of Ispahan;
they are made the same as those of the present day,
without any difference." This period was close upon
three hundred years, and, although trifling in compari-
son with the time which has elapsed since the first
primitive efforts, is valuable as an indication of a
consistency which is in favor of the antiquity of any
article which, so to say, the Persians originally
adopted, and this in any case can with certainty be
claimed for the carpet.
"In Persia you shall finde carpets of course thrummed
wooll, the best of the world, and excellently coloured:
308 Persia, the Land of the Magi
those cities and townes you must repaire to, and you
must use means to learne all the order of the dying
of those thmmmes, which are so died as neither raine,
wine, nor yet vinegar can staine: and if you may
attaine to that cunning, you shall not need to feare
dying of cloth. For if the colour holde in yarne and
thrumme, it will holde much better in cloth." — Richard
Hackluit, 1579.
"I saw yesterday a piece of ancient Persian rug,
time of Shah Abbas (our Elizabeth's time), that fairly
threw me on my back : I had no idea that such wonders
could be done in carpets." — William Morris, 1877.
""Who that has once seen them can ever forget the
imperishable colors, mellowed but uneffaced by time,
the exquisite designs, and the predominant grace, of
the genuine old Persian carpet?" — Hon. George N.
Curzon, M.P., 1892.
By a strange but quite natural coincidence, the
Oriental carpet expert, Sir George Birdwood; the lace
Mr. Bernard Quaritch and Sir Edward Maunde
Thompson, experts in palaeography; and Mr. Colin
Stalker, the writer of an article on the violin in Cham-
bers' Encyclopedia, have all assigned the date 5000
B. C. as the period from which their respective sub-
jects derive their origin. With some show of reason
the carpet can be claimed as having been the first in
the field, both from the fact of its being as much a
necessity as a luxury, and also because of the variety
of materials, provided by nature, from which it can be
readily and economically made.
The importance attached to carpets may be indicated
by quoting some of the prices which fine examples have
realized in recent years :
The Persian Textile Arts 309
Carpets and Rugs.
1888. Goupil sale, Paris:
Persian rug, size, 7x6 £1,300
Persian rug, size, 7x6 £S00
Three small Persian rugs £1,500
1893. The Ardebil carpet, Persian, dated 1539; size,
34-6x17-6; 380 hand-tied knots to the
square inch £2,500
This carpet, which was first exhibited in England
by Messrs. Binccnt Robinson & Co., Ltd., was
purchased for the nation at the price named,
the .sum of £750 being contributed by A. W.
Franks, C.B., E. Steinkoppf, William Morris
and J. E. Taylor.
1903. Henry G. Marquand sale, New York:
Royal Persian rug of the fifteenth or early
sixteenth century; size, 11-10 x 6-\}4;
600 hand-tied knots to the square inch. . . £7,200
Persian carpet of middle sixteenth century
Ispahan carpet; size, 22-8x9-5; 156
hand-tied knots to the square inch £3,000
Old rug of Middle Persia; silk; size,
6-11x4-10; 780 hand-tied knots to the
square inch £3,000
Old carpet of Middle Persia; size, 9-9 x 8-5 ;
400 hand-tied knots to the square inch. . £2,820
Old Persian prayer rug; silk; size, 5—5 x 3-8;
468 hand-tied knots to the square inch. . £1,400
Antique Persian prayer rug; size, 5-6 x 4-3;
323 hand-tied knots to the square inch . . . £820
Antique rug of Western Persia; size, 8-1 x 6-5 ;
168 hand-tied knots to the square inch. . . £800
The Evening Standard and St. James' Gazette of
December 30, 1905, said: "Mr. Yerkes has bequeathed
his^mansion in Fifth Avenue, with its splendid art
310 Persia, the Land of the Magi
galleries, to New York City. His bequest includes
twenty-three rugs, said to be the finest and most costly
in the world. Mr. Yerkes had the designs of these
carpets painted in the original colors, and had ten vol-
umes containing them printed. Nine of these he pre-
sented to the most famous museums of the world.
Among the carpets is a 'Holy Carpet,' for which he
paid $60,000 (£12,000). From this it appears that
Mr. C. T. Yerkes could claim to have paid the highest
price ever given for an Oriental carpet. Although if
the Ardebil carpet were offered for sale to-day, prob-
ably a dozen millionaire collectors would be only too
happy to give at least £20,000 for the pleasure of own-
ing such a unique specimen of Eastern art.
"The Ardebil carpet, made to screen the interior arch
of the mausoleum, leading to the tomb of Sheikh Sen,
who died on Tuesday, September 12, 1384, and was
buried at Ardebil.
"The Maksoud of Kashan, most capable and promis-
ing young weaver in the royal carpet factories, is placed
at the permanent service of the priests or guardians
of the Holy Mosque in weaving the carpet.
"In addition to its superlative merits of design, color-
ing and texture, this carpet in of the first importance
amongst its compeers, owing to the presence of a date
giving it a certificate of birth that cannot be disputed,
while the place of its origin and manufacture provides
a pedigree entitling it to rank high as a 'Holy Carpet,'
screening the interior arch of the mausoleum leading
to the tombs of Sheikh Sen" and Shah Ismail I, the foun-
der of the Sophi dynasty, who died on Monday, May 9,
1524, and was also buried at Ardebil, within the 'Holy
and spirit-illumined Mausoleum of the Sophis.' "
The Persian Textile Arts 311
To speak for a moment of the actual design of the
Ardebil carpet. It has all the qualities of the detached
panel formation, and of the geometrical arrangement
which gives the smooth, level effect which is the most
charming feature of Oriental design. Although the
carpet consists of only the one section — or of the whole
carpet divided equally, vertically and horizontally,
and turned over from the center to form its right-
angled shape — the design is varied, in small points of
detail, and the coloring also changes, with the result
that any sense of repetition is removed, and, except
on examination, it does not occur to one that there is
anything conventional in the treatment.
The sections of the center panel, placed in the four
corners of the field of the carpet, very happily soften
off the squareness of the general lines; while the free
scroll and stem treatment, with bud and flower forms,
hold the whole design together, leaving no space in
which too much plain color would have created a
vacuum, which the Oriental artist abhors before
everything.
A very marked feature in the carpet as a whole,
and one which will only perhaps strike the observer
in the original carpet, or a large reproduction, is the
frequent use of the horsehoe and cloud forms, in com-
bination and separately. In the center medallion, the
forms, in combination and separately. In the center
medallion, the large closed curve of the horseshoe is
turned north, south, east and west, and if the trailing
ends were connected, a very pretty cross would result.
The arms of the shoe in these four forms meet together
before the cloud forms spread out in usual shape, and
at first I was puzzled with the twisted figure which
312 Persia, the Land of the Magi
seems intended to hold the arms together. The thought
occurred to me that it might be meant for something
in connection with a horse, which naturally suggested
a curb or snaffle. On referring to M. Hoi ace Hayes'
"Riding and Hunting," I found in Fig. 43 a "double-
mouthed snaffle," which was of sufficient resemblance
to the carpet form to be at least interesting, while the
connection between a horseshoe and the snaffle suggests
probability.
Facing inwards, and almost touching the small
center of the medallion, are four full-spread horseshoe
forms, while eight serpent-like smaller forms, half
cloud, half horseshoe, geometrically arranged, are
included in the general design of this particular char-
acter, which is held together by formally arranged stem
and flower forms, which lie under the horseshoe and
cloud forms, and an open arabesque pattern of flat
colored treatment.
The large, almost "lamp-like" pendants, attached
to each of the sixteen points of the center medallion,
are alternately filled with closed and open horseshoe
and cloud forms, and the same design and arrangement
is observed in the corner sections already referred to.
This special feature of the carpet is, so to say, the
leitmotive of the design, and must have some special
significance, which I hint at towards the end of this
description. However fanciful the idea may seem, it
is the study of these apparently small points which may
in the future throw light upon period of design which
will make final classification easier and more trust-
worthy, while it may be remarked that the Eastern
temperament is such that the freaks of any particular
monarch, artist or weaver can hardly be taken as a
The Persian Textile Arts 313
safe guide on general lines; in fact, the whole subject
is full of pitfalls for the most wary. It may be remarked
here that Alexander the Great idolized his horse
Bucephalus, and when it died buried it with almost
royal honors, founding the city Bucephalia in remem-
brance. In connection with the conquest of Persia
and India, this fact is not likely to have been forgotten.
It remains to mention the border, which, with
exquisite appropriateness, take up the formality of the
design as a whole, while affording the perfect contrast
of effect so essential to a picture, of whatever subject
it may be. The alternate panels and roundels forming
the main band of the border are filled, as regards the
long panels, with the characteristic horseshoe and cloud
forms, each of which long panels contains four of these
features, turned over geometrically, and held together
with conventional stem and floral work. The roundels
are filled with a geometrically arranged star trellis,
again affording sufficient and pleasing divisions to the
more important panels. The outer band of the bor-
der, of medium width, consists of a continuous ara-
besque of interlaced stems, flatly treated as regards
both design and color, but bearing within them deli-
cately drawn stem, leaf and flower forms in contrasting
colors.
A medium-width band of red, filled with a free con-
ventional floral scroll, divides the border from the field
or body of the carpet, while next to this, and (although
of greater width) corresponding with the outer band,
comes a broad band of cream, these two bands enclos-
ing the main band with its panel formation. This
broad serpent fashion, right round the carpet, the round
curve of the shoe alternately pointing inwards and
314 Persia, the Land of the Magi
outwards. Within each horseshoe is a conventional
flower rosette, in delicate pink and yellow, with an
outline of yellow; these dark figures alternate with the
pink figures above referred to, and rest between the
curling ends of the cloud forms attached to each arm
of the horseshoes.
The hanging lamps are such prominent features in
the carpet that special reference seems necessary.
They, of course, respectively symbolize the two saints
reposing in the tombs within the Mosque. It will be
noticed that the one lamp is larger than the other,
and moreover occupies the upper portion of the carpet,
the end pointing towards the inscription. One would
naturally suppose that the lamp first woven in the
carpet would stand for Sheikh Sen, while the larger
and more important one would represent the majesty
of the founder of the Sophi dynasty, Shah Ismail I.
Is it not, however, also possible that Maksoud, as a
delicate compliment to the powers that be, purposely
made this lamp of a superior form, lavishing his best
work upon it, perhaps even at that time with some
foreknowledge of the honor which was eventually done
him?
The very lavish use of the horseshoe and cloud forms,
I think, clearly points to the carpet having been made
by special command of Shah Ismail I, and completed
at his death by Shah Thamasp I, who would naturally
appreciate the insignia of royalty which such forms
might be said to have. The weaver Maksoud of
Kashan, as the only man capable of bringing the car-
pet to a uniform completion, would naturally be an
important person, in the eyes even of the monarch of
all Persia, and it is, I hold, well within the bounds of
The Persian Textile Arts 315
credibility that his great services were rewarded in a
fashion unique in the annals of carpet-weaving, and
that by grace of Shah Thamasp, sovereign of all Per-
sia, the following inscription is to-day a conspicuous
feature of the Holy Carpet of Ardebil, which formerly
screened the tombs of the saint and ascetic Sheikh
Sefi, and the great ruler and founder of the Sophi
dynasty, Shah Ismail I. Translated, it reads:
"I have no refuge in the world other than thy
threshold, my head has no protection other than this
porch way,
1 ' Maksoud of Kashan,
In the year A. H. 942."
Pv.oyal Carpet. Manufactured in the royal palaces,
and probably in many cases under the eye of the sov-
ereign, it is known that carpets of a superior class were
sent as presents from Persia to all parts of the world,
where personal friendship or political exigency made the
gift appropriate or politic. A very fine example of
this class of carpet is illustrated in color and described
in the fine Subscribers' Edition of the Henry G. Mar-
quand Catalogue No. 1305, and has already been
referred to as having been sold for the enormous sum
of £7,200. The carpet was a gift from the Shah of
Persia to the Sultan of Turkey, and its history is well
authenticated.
The prime features of the carpet are the center
medallion on a red ground, and spade-like figures top
and bottom, elaborately damasked and arabesqued;
these three figures, connected together by a conven-
tional ornamental floral figure, lie upon a dark green
ground, which is covered with a closely-worked leaf
316 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and flower design, upon which numerous and varied
animal figures disport.
The border of this long and narrow carpet has two
upper and lower panels, and four of a similar design
on each side, or twelve in all, with inscriptions in silver
upon a red ground, which ground, like the main cen-
ter panel, appears to be damasked with a lighter tone
of the same color. These panels are divided from one
another by medallion forms, which are in connection,
each corner of the carpet being occupied by one of
them. This band of panel and medallion forms lies
upon a rich yellow ground, divided from the field of the
carpet by a narrow crimson band, which is of the same
color and character as a broader band forming the
outer edge of the carpet.
The carpet is described as of the fifteenth or earlier
sixteenth century, and, as compared with the Ardebil
carpet, this dating seems in accordance with the more
primitive nature of the design. Both carpets are of
the finest make of woolen, and as "Mosque" and
"Royal" carpets are thoroughly typical of their respec-
tive classes.
Palace Carpet. The famous "Hunting Carpet,"
which was the piece de resistance of the Vienna Carpet
Exhibition of 1891, is described as a palace carpet,
both on account of its having probably been manu-
factured upon one of the large looms within the palace
precincts, and also because, from its very special
character, it was intended either for the adornment of
one of the Persian palaces or perhaps as a present to
some friendly sovereign.
No less than five monochrome plates and one full-
plate colored section, and a half-plate, also colored,
The Persian Textile Arts 317
are devoted to this carpet in Oriental Carpets, issued
from the Imperial Press, Vienna, in ten parts, from
1892 to 1896. Dr. Alois Riegl has fully described this
carpet in his "Analysis" to the work above mentioned,
and the carpet is of such an elaborate nature in all its
details that any one interested or curious in the matter
must not only carefully read his description, but also
carefully study the plates, no one of which gives the
carpet as a whole, although its size, 22-4x10-6, does
not approach that of the Ardebil carpet.
A rich medallion occupies the center of the carpet,
softened off towards the top and bottom by first an
oblong broken panel, and then by an upright spade
figure, connected with the main medallion; the carpet
being narrow, only the small spade figure projects
from the left- and right-hand points of the medallion,
the said spade figures acting as a kind of division
between the upper and lower halves of the full field
of the carpet. Sections of the center medallion occupy
each corner of the field of the carpet.
Dragon and griffin figures fill the sections of the
medallion in the corners, and the whole of the field of
the carpet outside these corners, and the center medal-
lion itself is a perfect "riot" of Persian princes appar-
ently, hunting deer, their horses fully caparisoned and
they themselves provided with swords, spears and
bows and arrows. The life and movement through-
out the carpet is wonderful, when the nature of the
fabric is considered; and in addition to the numerous
human and animal figures displayed, a rich running
stem, leaf and floral effect binds the whole design
together and gives sufficient relief to the figures of the
huntsmen and their horses, which are clearly defined
in fiat color treatment.
318 Persia, the Land of the Magi
A broad cream band of color divides the border from
the field of the carpet, and the conventionally arranged
figures occupying this band illustrate the boldness with
which the Oriental varies his forms without conveying
any sense of the ludicrous. Every alternate figure
in this band has within the centre of the floral rosette
a "cat" or tiger's head, quite natural in appearance,
even in the monochrome reproduction.
The broad main band of the border, of a rich red
ground, evidently represents an Oriental Royal Feast,
the principal personages being seated and other
figures of importance being apparently in attendance;
both classes of figures are provided with wings, and
alternate one with another throughout the design; a
seated figure occupies each corner of this main border
band and appropriately gives this finish to the general
effect. A continuous stem and leaf scroll design gives
a rich groundwork to the plan, and the frequent inser-
tion of conventional floral and geometrical figures give
sufficient importance to this feature of the design;
cockatoos and birds of paradise are freely inserted,
and cloud forms of curious and fantastic shape seem
to fill in all the spare spaces.
The outer band of the border, which is a little wider
than the band next to the field of the carpet, is upon a
bronze green ground as far as can be judged from the
colored reproduction; the design consists of an outline
in silver of spade shape, which encloses a flatly-colored
leaf form of simple design ; this form is placed at regu-
lar intervals, with about its width apart, the space so
left being occupied by a floral figure, with this time a
human head in the center. A formally arranged leaf,
stem and ornamental trellis fills this portion of the
The Persian Textile Arts 319
border, occupying the spaces between the main figures
just mentioned.
Dr. Alois Riegl speaks of this carpet as a splendid
example of Persian courtly art of the sixteenth cen-
tury. The Hunting Scene portrayed probably repre-
sents one of the magnificent entertainments given to
court visitors of the magnificent highest rank, and it is
not improbable that the carpet was designed as a present
to the most important prince or potentate in whose
honor the sport was arranged. It is further extremely
probable that some attempt at least would be made to
distinguish the leading figures, and any written descrip-
tion made at the time might well lead to identifications
which would be of the greatest interest historically,
and as regards the carpet itself and carpet-weaving
generally.
It remains to say that the carpet is of silk, with gold
and silver thread sparsely used; and that its safety
and preservation is fortunately in the hands of the
Emperor of Austria, under whose auspices it formed
a prominent feature of the splendid exhibition of car-
pets held in his capital in the year 1891.
Sixteenth Century Carpet. As a tpyical example of
this period, before the full influence of Shah Abbas
could be exercised, or even before he came to the
throne, I have selected an example from the Marquand
collection, which, measuring 16-12x7-1, and with 195
hand-tied knots to the square inch, was No. 1310 in
the New York sale of January, 1903, and realized the
large sum of £3,000. The general character and forma-
tion of the design is sufficiently near to the example
illustrated in this book to make a detailed description
unnecessary; but it may be specially noted that,
320 Persia, the Land of the Magi
whereas the latter is without any suggestion of the
well-known horseshoe and cloud forms, the Marquand
example has two of these forms complete, the rounded
head of the horseshoes pointing towards the top
and bottom of the carpet. The whole design of this
Marquand carpet is more advanced in style than the
carpet to which it is compared; but, as far as can be
judged from the colored plate, the former has the rich
grass-green ground in the border, and the blood-red
of the field, touched with magenta, which was a fea-
ture in the original sixteenth-century example from
which the Jacquard reproduction was faithfully copied.
A passage in Chardin's "Persia," describing an exe-
cution in the reign of Shah Abbas II, after mentioning
that the sovereign went to his Hall of Audience clad
entirely in scarlet, as customary when a notability was
to die, proceeds as follows: "Adressing himself to
Janikan, His Majesty said to him, ' Traitor, rebel, by
what authority did you slay my Vizier?' He wished
to reply, but the king did not give him the opportu-
nity. Rising and saying in a loud voice, 'Strike!' he
retired into a room which was only separated from the
main chamber by a glass screen. The guards, posted
close by, immediately threw themselves upon the vic-
tim and his companions, and with their axes hewed
them to pieces upon the beautiful carpets of silk and
gold thread with which the hall was covered. This
was done before the eyes of the king and all his court."
These executions were by no means of infrequent
occurrence, and it came to my mind that the sight of
the green grass, spattered with blood, might in earlier
times have suggested an effect of color which is undoubt-
edly as good as the combinations of the two which is
The Persian Textile Arts 321
undoubtedly perhaps most striking colors in nature
might be expected to be. A further thought, even
more hideous in its suggestion to Western minds, is
that with these scenes of blood, which the perusal of
Chardin's volumes almost makes one at last regard
as a commonplace, the blood-red color of the main
portion of the carpets would, after such events as that
recorded, be less repugnant, until they could be removed
and cleaned, than if the colors were of a character to
betray results which the guilty consciences of some of
the beholders might regard as too significant to make
them quite comfortable, while the rigid Eastern eti-
quette demanded their continued attendance upon the
person of the monarch whom they served.
Fantastic as this suggestion of the origin and con-
tinued use of green border and red center may be, the
combination of colors is striking in the extreme, and
probably readers in future will realize, when admiring
the effect, that the most innocent examples of Oriental
art may have a symbolism which would never enter
the mind unless put there by those more closely in
touch with the curious mental perversions which draw
a distinct line between the East and the West.
Shah Abbas Carpet. The very superb carpet
illustrated in full page in the Vienna Oriental Car-
pets, Plate XLI, first in monochrome and then in
full color effect, with the gold and silver threads in
their natural effect, must of a surety be one of the
examples of the golden period of Shah Abbas, which,
to use Mr. Morris' words, "fairly threw me on my
back." The main band of the border is of the richest
tint of green, and the center of the typical sixteenth-
century red, but apparently of a deeper tint than is
322 Persia, the Land of the Magi
generally associated with the average examples of the
class. The design of both the field of the carpet and
the border is rich and varied in the extreme; it would
not be possible to have greater variety of form and
treatment without overcrowding, at the same time
the most critical eye would find it difficult or impossi-
ble to say what could be omitted with advantage.
This is the test of perfection: what could be added
to perfect, what could be taken away to improve; if
the answer is Nothing ! one of the wonders of the world
has been created by human hands, and this can be
said of the Shah Abbas carpet under consideration.
The whole style and character of this example shows
an enormous advance over the Marquand carpet; but
in the same way as this latter carpet is on general lines
inspired by the earlier example reproduced in this vol-
ume, so the carpet owned by Count Arthur Enzen-
berg has a suggestion of the same formation. Still,
while the two former examples turn over both ways
from the center and have thus some of the formality
of the geometrical formation, the Enzenberg carpet
very cleverly avoids this precision of effect by placing
the center of this repeating formation lower down,
and so deceives the eye into accepting the design as
all over, although, being turned over right and left
from a line drawn through the center of the carpet
lengthways, a very pleasing uniformity of arrangement
is observable, which is one of the imposing and effective
features of the whole design, and departure from which
in any respect would be fatal to the tout ensemble.
The horseshoe and cloud forms and the detached
cloud forms are a marked feature in this carpet, and
in this respect again probably show the personal predi-
The Persian Textile Arts 323
lection of the warrior statesman, Shah Abbas. The
palmette forms, not too pointed, be it observed, are a
prominent feature in both the field of the carpet and
the border; in the former they are lavishly worked in
gold and silver thread, in some cases a very rich effect
being obtained by a colored center floral rosette lying
upon a plain light-red ground, being surrounded first
by a broad row of connected leaves in silver thread
and an outer row of smaller leaves worked in gold
thread. In some of these rich palmette figures the
foliated leaf form next to the stem supporting it is
in silver thread, while the palmette itself is in a full
colored effect; or this arrangement is varied by the
outer leaves being in gold.
A continuous scroll stem- work, with small floral
rosette forms in color and silver thread, and similar
forms in color only, fill up the whole field of the carpet
in symmetrically arranged convolutions; and at set
intervals, and in more or less geometrical form, are to
be seen the long-tailed wild pheasants, sometimes with
silver bodies and gay-colored plumage, or richly
colored without the metal thread.
The border is more conventional in style than the
field; and palmette forms, with the foliated leaf next
the supporting stem, and gold-worked outer leaves,
pointing alternately inwards and outwards, are divided
from one another by smaller floral rosettes, with a
colored center, and silver outer leaves, lightly outlined
with red.
Small bird figures are placed at regular intervals,
and the whole design is held together by a formal
stem, flower and leaf scroll-work. The outer narrow
border forming the edge of the carpet is upon a red
324 Persia, the Land of the Magi
ground, lightly damasked with a free flower and stem
treatment ; the narrow inner border, dividing the field
from the main border, is very happily formal in style,
consisting of an elongated panel, rounded at the ends,
and colored upon a red ground, divided by a roundel
form, in apparently the same shade of green as the
main border band.
All this detail of design and color is within a space
measuring 11.43^x5.11^ — truly a miracle of artistic
inventiveness and a triumph of dexterous weaving.
Dr. Alois Riegl, in his "Analysis," speaks of this car-
pet as being made of worsted yarn, with gold and silver
thread wound upon silk, and as belonging "to the valu-
able group of the older Persian carpets, whose most
splendid example is to be found in the hunting carpet
in the possession of the Emperor of Austria." He adds,
"Unfortunately, the brilliancy of the metal thread is
here somewhat tarnished, the natural consequence of
having served for centuries as a floor covering.
Chardin writes in his third chapter, under the head-
ing "Du Terroir:" "One must say of the land of
Persia, what has already been said of the climate.
The kingdom from its magnitude being a little world
in itself, one part burnt up by the rays of the sun and
the other frozen by the intense cold, it is not surpris-
ing that both extremes are to be found in the same coun-
try. Persia is a barren land, only a tenth part being
cultivated. It has already been remarked that Persia
is the most mountainous country in the world, and not
only so, but the mountains themselves are the wildest
and most sterile, being little more than bare rocks,
without either trees or herbage. But in the valleys
between the mountains, and in the enclosed plains,
Youel Benjamin Mirza,
The author's nephew, who is in America preparing
for mission work in the Johns Hopkins University,
of Baltimore, Mil.
The Persian Textile Arts 325
the soil is more or less fertile and agreeable, according
to the situation and the climate. The ground is sandy
and stony in places; and elsewhere clayey and heavy,
or as hard as stone. But whether it is the one or the
other, it is so dry that, if not irrigated, it produces
nothing, not even grass. It is not that rain is wanting,
but there is not enough of it. It rains almost continu-
ously in summer, and in the winter the sun is so strong
and so scorching, for the five or six hours while it is
highest on the horizon, that it is necessary to keep
the earth continually watered; while one can say that
if this is done, it is abundantly productive. Thus it
is the scarcity of water which makes the land so
unfruitful, while it is only fair to say that it is also
on account of the smallness of the population, for the
country only has the twentieth part of what it could
readily support. Surprise is felt in remembering the
impressions given of Persia by the ancient authors,
especially Arrian and Quintus Curtius, to read whom,
one might imagine from their accounts of the luxury,
the sensuousness, and the wealth of Persia, that the
country was made of gold, and the commodities of
life to be found in abundance, and at the lowest possi-
ble price; but the reverse is the prosperous as the
ancient authors have reported, as even the Holy Scrip-
tures confirm the fact. How are these contradictory
assertions to be reconciled ? I think I can do so with-
out difficulty, in relating the two causes which I dis-
covered for so strange a change. The first arises from
the differences in religion; and the second from the
same cause affecting the government. The religion of
the ancient Persians, who were fire- worshipers, required
them to cultivate the soil ; for, according to their pre-
326 Persia, the Land of the Magi
cepts, it was a pious and meritorious action to plant a
tree, to clear the land, and to make something grow
where it never grew before. On the other hand,
Mahometan philosophy taught those who practised
it to enjoy the good things of this world while it was
possible, without any regard to the broad road over
which all would one day pass. The government of
the ancient Persians also was more just and equitable.
The rights of property and other possessions were
regarded as sacred ; but at the present day the govern-
ment is despotic and arbitrary.
"What, however, convinces me that what I have
read of the Persia of ancient times is true, and that it
was then incomparably more populous and prosperous
than it is at present, is what we have seen to happen
during the six-and-twenty years commencing from the
close of the reign of Shah Abbas the Great.
"Shah Abbas was a just king, whose efforts tended
solely towards making his kingdom flourishing and his
people happy. He found his empire devastated and
in the hands of usurpers ; and for the most part poverty-
stricken and in confusion; but it would hardly be
believed what his good government effected on all
sides. For proof of what I say, he brought into his
capital a colony of Christians, an energetic and indus-
trious people, who had nothing in the world when they
arrived, but who, after thirty years, became so rich
and powerful that there were more than sixty merchants
who averaged each from a hundred thousand to two
millions of ecus in merchandise and money. As soon
as this great and good king ceased to live, Persia ceased
to prosper.
"During the two following reigns (Sefi I and Abbas
The Persian Textile Arts 327
II) the people began to pass into India; and in the
reign of Soliman II, who succeeded to the throne in
1666, the richness and prosperity of the country dimin-
ished to a great degree. I first came to Persia in 1665,
in the time of Abbas II, and I visited it for the last
time in 1677, when his son Soliman II reigned. The
wealth of the country appeared to me to have been
reduced by half during these twelve years. Even the
coinage was affected. Money was scarce and silver
hardly to be seen. The beggars importuned those
better off on all sides, in order to make a living. The
inhabitants, to secure themselves from the oppression
of the grandees, became excessively tricky and deceit-
ful, and sharp practices in business were universally
practised.
"There are only too many examples all over the
world of the fact that the prosperity of a country, and
the fertility of the soil, depend upon a good and just
government and a strict observance of the laws. If
Persia were inhabited by the Turks, who are even more
indolent and careless about the demands of life than
they be worse off still. On the other handj if Persia
were in the hands of the Christians, or even of the so-
called 'fire-worshipers,' one would soon see again the
return of her ancient splendor."
Mr. S. Humphries says: "From the earliest times
it is not unreasonable to suppose that special sizes
and shapes in carpeting have been made, as well as
special designs and colorings. Some ten or twelve
years ago I saw in one of the leading London carpet
houses a very curious runner, which, instead of being
one comprehensive design (whether pine, panel or
connected or detached conventional figures), con-
328 Persia, the Land of the Magi
sisted of five prayer rugs with the conventional arch,
all comprised in one piece, with the points of the arches
lying in one direction. The only apparent explanation
of this freak is that the happy father of a united fam-
ily, desiring the morning and evening prayers to be
observed at one time, and with the due formality
attached to each one possessing a separate prayer
rug, with its separate mosque arch, had this prayer-
runner specially made to his own instructions; and it
remains to-day as an example of pitfalls of the sort
which are laid for the expert and connoisseur who
derive their data from solitary specimens instead of
expanding their outlook."
As to the distinctions in size between carpets, run-
ners and rugs, the division is arbitrary. A large carpet
is always a carpet; a long rug I have classed as a
runner; a small rug might be called a mat or, as Sir
Richard Burton described it, a "foot-carpet." Gen-
erally speaking, Oriental carpets are not large, unless
made for a particular modation was not such as to
admit of large carpets.
In his "Monograph on Oriental Carpets," in the
Vienna Carpet Book, Sir C. Purdon Clarke writes
of "the large carpet in the hall of the Chehel Sutoon
(Ispahan), said to be the largest ever woven and
measuring 60 by 30 feet." Mr. Vincent J. Robinson,
in his contribution to the same grand Carpet Book,
under the title "Indian Carpets," writes: "In 1882
Mr. Purdon Clarke visited the factory of Masulipatum,
and at the palace of the Nawab saw a remarkable
suite of large carpets, each fitting one of the reception-
rooms. On expressing admiration for their size and
beauty, and inquiring as to their place of manufacture,
The Persian Textile Arts 329
he was informed by the Nawab that they were all
made in the palace, in his father's time, about sixty
years before, adding the explanation that no weavers'
houses were large enough for the looms, nor were any
weavers rich enough to make such carpets for chance
sale."
Here are two sufficient reasons for the smallness of
the average Oriental carpet — the size of the houses in
which they were woven, and the fact that the smaller
size meant a quicker turning over of the weaver's
small capital, for it may be assumed that privately
woven, as most of them doubtless were before the trade
was organized upon the European system, a very small
carpet would naturally tax the resources of the weaver.
Apart from the limitations of design and coloring
caused by the size, there are no distinguishing features
in the average carpet, runner and rug, which is quite
distinctive in style and has inner meanings which are
worthy of notice. There are the inscription prayer
rug, the prayer rug with the open arch, and the variety
of the same rug which has the representation of a
lamp hanging from the crown of the arch. The arch
is sometimes partly filled with a hanging band of
small figures joined together; indeed, the variety is
infinite. Some of the larger prayer rugs, of more
advanced design, have a representation of the sup-
porting pillars of the arch, the older ones having a
single detached pillar, the hanging lamp in both cases
being a feature.
Persians, from the crown to the peasant, sit upon
rugs when eating, with cushions placed behind them.
It is only the lowest beggar who has no rug.
The floor, which is of hard-beaten ground, first is
330 Persia, the Land of the Magi
covered with a matting of split reeds or rush washes,
and they lay over this so many small rugs that the
matting cannot be seen, with their taste in design and
color they produce beautiful effects, as the Persians
prefer several small rugs to one large rug. In the house
beautiful rugs impart richness and represent refine-
ment. Their colors are blended in such hatmony as
to please the eye and satisfy the mind.
In Chambers' Encyclopedia, the article on "Wool"
opens as follows: "The soft, hairy covering of sheep
and some other animals (as goats and alpacas), has
from the earliest historic times been used in the con-
struction of yarns or threads, which by the process of
weaving — in tei lacing two series of yarns crossing each
other at right angles — have been converted into tex-
tiles possessing clothing properties. With the progress
of civilization and the development of the beaux-arts,
wool became the staple material of many of the costly
and elaborately-ornamented textures produced con-
jointly by the weaver and the embroiderer for embel-
lishing the temples of the gods and the palaces of roy-
alty." No better introduction could be conceived to
the two volumes of about 320 pages each which Mr.
Howard Priestman has written on the "Principles of
Worsted Spinning and the Principles of Woolen
Spinning," from which I will quote as briefly as
possible.
In the last-named work, published in 1908, Mr.
Priestman says:
"Those writers who contend that the spinning of
long wool was antecedent to the art of making short
wool-carded yarn, point also to the fact that all wild
sheep are long-wooled or long-haired animals, all of
The Persian Textile Arts 331
them having a shorter wool or fur growing amongst
the roots of the longer fibers. This is still the case in
the vicuna and the cashmir goat, and it is well known
that the fine wools from these animals are the softest
and most beautiful wools known to commerce. All
sheep whose wool is useful for the textile arts are sup-
posed to be the results of artificial breeding. When-
ever flocks are mentioned in ancient history, it is in
relation to centers of civilization. In the Bible we
have a curious confirmation of the fact that the art of
breeding to obtain variations in the fleece was known
at a very early date. This occurs in Jacob's dealings
with his father-in-law. The passage not only tells us
that he altered the color of the wool of the flock to suit
his own ends, but that he refused to impart his knowl-
edge to the man to whom the flock originally belonged.
There is another reference in the Book of Ezekiel to
the white wool which was brought from Damascus
and sold in Tyre, previous to being dyed by the Phoeni-
cians, who were the most celebrated dyers of antiquity.
Tyrian purple was widely celebrated, and as any
colored fibers in the wool would greatly detract from
the brilliance of the resulting fabric, we may be sure
that pure white wool was not only a commodity of
great value, but that clever flock-masters were even
then well aware how to keep their wool free from
the black fibers that occur in the wool of most wild
sheep.
" Dyeing is an art in itself, and sufficient will be said
throughout the volume to give what information is
necessary in dealing with a subject in which artistic
considerations are the main feature. The ancient
method of boiling the yarn in copper pans or kettles
332 Persia, the Land of the Magi
until it has absorbed the requisite amount of coloring
matter, is more or less practised to the present day in
the carpet centers of all countries. The old process
of dyeing by hand, or without the use of any kind of
machine-vat, has been practised for considerably over
a century in the carpet factory in connection with
which the information contained in this volume is
derived. The process is simple and interesting. The
strongly made wooden vats — made to contain a pack
of yarn (240 lbs.), half a pack (120 lbs.), and a quarter
pack (60 lbs.) — being filled with pure water from an
artesian well, are brought to boiling point by means of
steam; the dye materials are placed in the vats; and
the skeins of yarn hanging from wooden poles resting
on the side edges of the vats are turned over by hand,
each of the thirty to thirty-five poles with their weight
of yarn being so treated until the dye matter has been
sufficiently absorbed, whereupon, and also to enable
the head dyer to make his tests, the poles of yarn are
raised from the boiling vats, and the liquid is allowed
to drip into the vats below, the poles resting upon pro-
jecting wooden arms immediately above the vats.
"The hand-dyeing process is costly, long and labori-
ous ; but the fact of the material being under the eyes
of the two men at each vat engaged in handling the yarn,
and of the head dyer and his assistants, gives the advan-
tage of constant supervision, and a correspondingly
perfect result."
It only remains to say that dark colors are suited
to the darker woolen or worsted yarns; and that for
the more delicate shades the finest grades of white
wool are required, which has bearing upon Mr. Priest-
man's remarks as to the avoidance of "black fibers"
The Persian Textile Arts 333
in the wool if an even and "all-over" shade of color is
to be obtained in the woven fabric, whether loop or
cut pile.
The mere question of producing the dyed color is
not the only consideration in the finished process.
Before the colored yarns are ready for the weaving
loom, it may be mentioned, the question of drying the
yarn after dyeing is a matter requiring expert judg-
ment. The wet yarn, having first been rinsed out in
a hydro-extractor, revolving at great speed, is finally
dried, either by means of exposure to the open air in a
drying-loft, in which the atmosphere is tempered by
means of Venetian shutters enclosing the loft, or in
closed drying and when "time is the essence of the
contract," by means of a drying-machine to the other,
upon flat metal-barred open chains, which are con-
tinuous, and revolve round wheels, transferring the
colored way as biscuits and other articles of food are
baked, as to which my only knowledge is derived from
seeing the method employed at the dyers' shops. The
symbolic character of each color is: Black represents
sorrow, error; blue represents air, truth; green repre-
sents initiation into knowledge of the Most High, Most
Sacred, Holy; indigo, sorrow; purple, water; red,
zeal, virtue, sincerity; rose, divine wisdom; scarlet,
fire; white, a holy life, purity; yellow, royality.
Processes by which various colors are produced. The
law of Persia prohibits the use of chemical mordants.
If a dyer is convicted of using aniline preparations he
should have his right hand cut off by the way of
punishment. In spite of this unnatural colors are
appearing in plenty in rug consignments, and passed
334 Persia, the Land of the Magi
in America as vegetable.1 The vegetable colors are
produced from the following materials : The reds are
are obtained from madder; the root of mbia tinctorum,
ground and boiled, is a basis for a multitude of the
reds of the Eastern carpets. The red most common
in Persian fabrics is made by combining alum water,
grape-juice and a decoction of madder, and drying the
yarn in a particularly moderate sun. Many degrees of
redness from pale pink to intense and glowing scarlet
can be made from madder alone, by different treat-
ments, and in combination with other materials it
plays a part in half the hums which appear in
Eastern carpets. One of the oldest of Persian dyes
is sheep's blood, from which, by secret method, a
rich and enduring vermilion is obtained. Another
material for deep red is kermes, a variety of coccus
insect found upon oak trees; the normal color pro-
duced from it is a rich carmine. It is one of the
1 "Aniline blue first appeared in 1860. Less than a year afterward it took
ten manufactories in Germany, England, Italy and Switzerland, to produce
the material.
"Whilst the manufacture of aniline colors thus became European, their
consumption spread still farther, and now could be observed this unique fact
in the history of commerce: the West supplied the East with coloring matter,
sending its artificial dyes to the confines of the globe, to China, to Japan, to
America and the Indies, — to those favored climes which up to the present
time had supplied the manufactories of Europe with tinctorial products.
This was a veritable revolution. Chemistry, victorious, dispossessed the sun
of a monopoly which it had always enjoyed. * * *
"This reduction in the price of aniline colors is such that all manufacturers
who use coloring matters have found it worth while to replace their former
tinctorial products by these artificial colors. Besides this, the employment
of these products has greatly simplified the formerly very complicated and
costly operations and processes of dyeing, so that an apprentice can obtain
as good shades as a skilled workman ; this facility of application has certainly
not less contributed to the success of coal tar coloring matter, than the rich-
ness and variety of the shades. * * *
"Everything, therefore, leads one to imagine that ultimately the natural
will yield entirely to the artificial coloring matters. This revolution, the
influence of which will be most important, since it will liberate for the produc-
tion of food many hands now employed in industrial operations, would already
have taken place if the artificial colors hitherto discovered were as solid as
their rivals." — Reimaris "Handbook of Anilines."
The Persian Textile Arts 335
oldest of Oriental dyes, but in some parts it has
been supplanted, in a measure, by the Mexican
cochineal, which after the Conquest of Mexico and the
importation of its product into Spain and thence into
Orient, took its place as an Eastern dye. This is used
for the most naming reds, as well as in combination
with other materials to give quality to tamer shades.
It is a more brilliant color and is not to be confounded
with the insect dye. In recent years, many reds have
had for basis the dye-woods such as Campeachy wood,
Brazil wood, and C. which have been engrafted upon
the Oriental system. Rich pink shades are often had
from the rochella or orchil, a lichen which grows on
the rocks around the seas. Singular reds are also
obtained from onion skins, ivy berries, beets and a
multitude of other plants most of them.
The most of the blues have for a basis indigo, which
for the many shades used is compounded with almost
every other dyeing material. In Persia dyeing with
indigo is accounted as high an art as is the science of
reds in Turkey and Bokhara. The principal yellows
are obtained from Persian berries, which although they
are indigenous to Asia Minor, attain a greater size and
a more pronounced yellow color in Persia; from tur-
meric, the extract of the East Indian root curcuma,
and from saffron and sumac roots.
The turmeric yellow is not of itself a thoroughly
fast color, but imparts a life to other shades when
used in combination. It serves as a mordant for cer-
tain dyes, owing to its instant change to brown when
brought into contact with any alkaline. Some yellow
shades are produced also by combination of the wood
dyes and saffron roots and flowers and a variety of
ochre plant.
336 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Indigo, in combination with the yellows, furnishes
most of the greens used by the dyers, with the buck-
thorn, or rhamnus, it produces the Chinese green, and
with turmeric and the Persian berries, a wide range of
intermediate greens, both bright and dull.
The deepest shades of brown are obtained by dye-
ing with madder over indigo, the deep Persian blue
is secured from applying indigo over pure madder.
Wood brown and camel's hair brown result from the
use of madder with the yellows. In Anatolia this
has been accomplished lately by use of the orange
aniline colors. Gallnuts also enter largely into the
making of the browns.
The densest blacks are made chiefly from iron fil-
ings, with vinegar and rind of pomegranate and some-
times with the addition of Campeachy wood. Gray
shades are secured by the use of gallnuts.
The description of purples is one of the richest in
the whole realm of Persian dyes, the different red
ingredients mentioned above are used in combination
with indigo, and the dye woods and the rochella tinc-
tures play a large part. The thoroughness with which
the Persian dyers have canvassed the whole field of
substances to discover a new material for establishing
or modifying colors is shown in the combination for
a popular shade of violet. It starts with a mixture of
milk and water, in exact proportions, then madder is
added — certain dilution and lastly the whole is con-
verted by sour grape juice. A great many shades of
purple heliotrope, lavender and the like are secured
from the bodies of marine insects and mollusks.
This outline will serve to indicate the honesty which
dominates the Persian coloring. It can only suggest
The Persian Texlile^Arts 337
the great variety of materials employed and the con-
summate skill required in the blending. Vine leaves,
mulberry leaves, myrobalans, laurel and angelica ber-
ries, artichokes, thistles, copers, ivy and myrtle — all
things that grow within the ken of the dyer — have
been tried to their utmost as possible color-makers
and color-changers; many of the growths are culti-
vated by the dyers upon their small acreage, in the
intervals of their momentous labor in the shops. The
loom has the same essential principles that is used in
the weaving of coarse cloth and canvas, the method,
too, is the same in its rudiments, with the addition
that instead of throwing the weft across the warp
compactly, to make a thin, firm web, the knot upon
the warp is employed to form a surface, and the weft
becomes merely a binder, holding each row of knots
close-pressed to its neighbor. Most of the looms are
plain, stationary oblong frames, consist of two upright
beams of wood, heavy or beams of wood light accord-
ing to the weight of the fabric to be woven. They are
fixed parallel to each other, and the distance between
them limits the width of the rug, this framework sup-
ports two horizontal rollers, the warp threads being
wound around the upper, while the ends are fastened
to the lower; this forms the basis of the fabric, at this
the weaving is begun.
A brief description of the finger-rug loom, as being
the legitimate descendant of the earliest form of Ori-
ental loom, may be given here. It is modernized by
the use of iron-toothed wheels for the warp chains, and
a heavy swinging lathe or "batten" with a metal sley
to beat up the work (instead of the Oriental heavy
loom) of these features would leave little room for doubt
338 Persia, the Land of the Magi
as to the capacity of primitive man eventually to arrive
at this form of carpet loom, after repeated failures,
which would on each occasion lead to the working out
of problems the solution of which in precisely the same
way is being repeated every day. The fabric produced
by the finger-rug loom is heavy and coarse, but of
extreme durability. After starting the work with a
comparatively fine webbing, or "drop-lea," in which
a thin weft is used in the shuttle, the warp threads sup-
porting the pile tufts are raised, the thick dyed worsted
or woolen weft forming the surface or pile is inserted
from right to left under the warp threads, and lifted
up between each two warp threads by the first finger
of the left hand, the height of the pile being regulated
by the finger, which gives the name of this particular
process of weaving. On the completion of each row
of pile tufts (or "takes," as the weaving expression is),
bind is given by passing a coarse, heavy weft between
the divisions of the warp threads ; and it may be men-
tioned that this heavy weft with the warp threads
forms the back, the colored surface threads resting
upon them and being completely hidden, which again
serves to distinguish the method from the Persian and
Indian weaves of carpets and rugs, in which the design
and color of the back correspond exactly with the sur-
face. The examination of a Brussels carpet will show
that the loops of colored worsted forming the pile run
the warp, and wind in and out, serpent fashion, between
the linen or cotton weft, which is securely held by the
intertwining warp threads. In the finger-rug pile
exactly the reverse is the case; the heavy colored pile
weft winding in and out again, serpent fashion, between
the warp threads, leaving, until cut, a series of loops
the way of the weft.
The Persian Textile Arts 339
The designs of Persian rugs are handed down from
one generation to another; young girls are taught the
design by the older ones. Preliminary to the weaving,
the children who are learning the rudiments of the
art undo the big skeins of yarn and wind it into balls.
These are hung upon a cross-rod fastened to the warp-
beam overhead, and the ends hang down within the
weaver's reach. The patterns from which the fabrics
are copied are usually old rugs, one or two of which
each family keeps for that praiseworthy purpose, and
so familiar do these swift -fingered women become with
the design by reproducing it year after year all through
their hum-drum lives, that a skilled weaver goes deftly
along with it, supplying unerringly, as if by unconscious
cerebration, the proper color in its proper place.
For beginners, the old rug is hung within arm's
length, with the back of it exposed so that every knot
and its color may be easily discerned; this is a design,
border and all, if gradually ingrained upon the young
weaver's memory, never to be forgotten. It is a known
fact that Persian rugs excel those of other countries
in artistic design as well as in harmonious coloring.
There are only two kinds of knotting used in Persian
rugs. These knots are called the chiordes or Turkish,
and the senna or Persian. In tying the chiordes the
weaver takes the strand of wool which is to be tied
into the knot, carries the ends around two warp yarns
and draws them toward him between the warp yarns,
making a slip knot.
The senna knot is tied by making a loop around
one warp yarn only ; the ends of the tufting yarn come
up to the face of the rug, not together, but separated
by a warp yarn. The finished carpet being rolled up
340 Persia, the Land of the Magi
on the bottom roller as the work progresses. The
warp in real antique rugs is, or was in most varieties,
woolen, where silk or linen was used only for flexibility,
but in these latter days cotton is used much in the
webbing, because it is cheaper. To the warp threads
of linen, cotton or silk, the weavers tie the tufts of
worsted that form the pile. This worsted that for which
has been dyed (in different colors, that are to be used)
previously, hangs over their heads in balls. When a
row of knots is finished it is pressed down to the under-
lying weft by a long and heavy comb, then the tufts
are clipped close with shears to make the pile. In the
finer rugs there are seldom more than two or three
threads between every two rows of knots, but in the
coarser there are more threads. In the days when
the weaving was done under viceroyal auspices is found
in the names by which many of the standard patterns
are known. There is, for example, the design of Tereh
shah Abbas, one of the most beautiful and at the same
time simplest of the ancient designs, while floral in
character, it is a complete departure from the complex
flower and vine masses coming in fine Persian fabrics
prior to the reign of the great shah. Its flowers, laid
broadly in yellow, red and blue, and with only smallest
display and connecting vines, were of good size and
in a way conventional and stood out clear and fine
upon a plain ground of the richest blue. They are
really modifications of the alternating palmettas and
rosettes found in the old borders.
Another design, which has so much of the decorative
quality of the shah Abbas, is the Tereh Mina Khanie
— named for Mina Khan, long ago a ruler in West
Persia. In this the flowers alternate red, yellow and
The Persian Textile Arts 341
particolored red and blue, are joined by rhomb©idal
vines of rich olive green, so as to form a diamond
arrangement. In the old versions of this design there
is left an abundance of the blue ground; the main
borders also carry large flowers in soft colors. The
narrow stripes often show the reciprocal figures of the
Karabaghs.
The Sardar Aziz Khan, once a governor of Azerbijan,
introduced a design which still bears his name — The
Tereh Sardar. It is common in the present-day car-
pets, but reflects no particular glory on his memory.
Its principal element, by which it can be distinguished
instantly, is the use of ridiculously long, narrow leaf
forms, united by vines and relieved by bold floral
shapes.
Another fine design is the Tereh Gule Hinnai or
flower of the henna, a favorite substitute for the fish
pattern in the fine old Feraghan rugs. Henna is the
plant with the extract of which the Persians dye their
beards, hair and finger-nails in such extraordinary
shades of red. The Gule Hinnai design presents a
small yellow plant shape, set in rows, and with profuse
flower. Forms uniting them in diamond arrangement,
and something after the manner of the fish pattern.
The weave of this in the Feraghans makes it resemble
the Herati deeper, though it is richer by reason of the
predominance of red. The Herati pattern is a rosette
balanced upon either side by palm forms, the palm
looks like a curled rose leaf or like a fish. In the Fera-
ghan carpets it is known as the Feraghan pattern.
It is used frequently in Kurdistans and sennas. The
design come from Herat, Afghanistan, which is a mongol
inspiration. The pear pattern — most common in
342 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Kashmir shawls, also in shiraz and sarabond rugs;
sometimes it covers the whole ground. In many
Khorassans and Kurdest and also it is utilized in a
geometric and decorative form. It is an open ques-
tion whether it is a pear, a palm or a river loop, symbols
of the Jhalum or Ganges. The Tabriz, sultanabad,
the Herez District Kashan and meshed, factored are
making rugs of all these forms. A favorite device for
Tabriz, Kirman, Ispahan, Ardebil, sultanabad and
Teheran rugs is a succession of small medallions con-
taining inscriptions in the Persian characters. It is
common to say that these writings in the "Cartouches
are passages from the Koran, but it is seldom the fact;
they are more frequently verses from the Persian
poets."
One fine rug in a museum, in Austria has the follow-
ing inscription: "Allah! No God exists beside him,
the living, the eternal. Nothing causes him to slum-
ber or to sleep. To him belongs everything in heaven
and on earth. Who can intercede with him without
his permission ? He knows what is before and what is
behind, and only so much of his wisdom can be grasped
as he permits. His throne fills heaven and earth, and
the support of both to him is easy. He is the high
one, the exalted!"
Another fine Persian rug in the possession of a Lon-
don family has in the oval cartouches the following
inscription: "May no sorrow be allowed thee, May
earth be all to thee, That thou wouldst have it, And
destiny prove thy friend, May high heaven be thy pro-
tector. May thy rising star enlighten the world; May
every act of thine prosper, And may every year and
every day be to thee springtime."
The Persian Textile Arts 343
In the Industrial Museum of Berlin there is a rug
with this inscription: "There is no Deity but God and
Mohamet is his Prophet."
In the book of Sir F. J. Goldsmid, upon "Eastern
Persia," published in 1876, is to be found the clearest
utterance regarding the carpets of Kirman, an utter-
ance formulated on the notes of eye witnesses of the
manufactures. It says: "The curiosities of Kirman
are the carpet and shawl manufactures. The former,
once the most celebrated in the East, have much
diminished in number since the siege, from which date
all the calamities of Kirman. In the governor's fac-
tory alone are the finer qualities produced. The
white wool of the Kirman sheep, added perhaps to
some quality of the water, gives a brilliancy to the
coloring, unattainable elsewhere. In patterns the
carpets are distinguishable from those of the North
and West by this purity of color, and a greater bold-
ness and originality of design, due probably to a slighter
infusion of Arab prejudice on the subject of the repre-
sentation of living forms. Not only flowers and trees,
but birds, beasts, landscapes and even human figures
are found in Kirman carpets. The Wakil-ul-Mulk
gave me two in return for a pair of breech-loading pistols
of greater value that I presented him with, and I pur-
chased a still finer one in the bazaar."
This is supplemented by the report of Major Oliver
B. St. John, embodied as part of the same volume.
His description of the way in which the Kirman weav-
ing is done would serve almost equally well as a pic-
ture of the work in the Tabriz factories.
He says: "From the shawl manufactory we went
some little distance to that of the no less celebrated
344 Persia, the Land of the Magi
carpets. These are manufactured in a way reminding
one strongly of the Gobelin tapestry made at present,
or rather before, the war in Paris. The looms are
arranged perpendicularly, and the workers sit behind
the looms, but in this case, unlike the Gobelins, they
have the right side of the carpet towards them. The
manufacture of carpets differs from that of shawls in
this particular, that each carpet has a painted pattern,
designed and drawn out by the master of the manufac-
tory, which is pinned to the center of the carpet, and
which the workers can consult if necessary from time
to time. Advantage, however, is rarely taken of this
facility of reference, for the boy who sits nearest the
pattern reads out in a monotonous voice any infor-
mation required concerning it. The carpets are made
entirely of cotton, woven by the fingers into the upright
web. Their manufacture is tedious and costly in the
extreme, but they are beautifully soft and durable.
The work is constantly hammered together close by a
wooden hammer every few stitches. The man whose
manufactory we visited was said to be without a rival
in Persia either in the designing of beautiful rugs or
in skill in making them. We saw a beautiful carpet
that he was making for a shrine at Meshed, which was
to cost five thousand tomans, or two hundred pounds,
being eleven yards long by about two and a half
broad; than which nothing could have been more
beautiful. The boys and men do not look so unhealthy
as those in the shawl shops." Tabriz, the pinnacle
of Islam, in the middle of the thirteenth century was
one of the greatest cities of Asia; in 1502 one of the
most luxurious courts ever established in the section
was held here, Oriental luxury was at its highest. The
The Persian Textile Arts 345
carpet factories of Tabriz follow all designs,2 first was
Kirman and then Saruks, Old Asia Minor. Lately
weavers have gone so far as to take the designs of
Valenciennes and other European laces, which were
borrowed from Persia centuries ago by the makers of
fabrics in Italy, France and Spain. True the Saracens,
when these Saracens in the seventh and eighth cen-
turies came into power in the Sassanion Persian Empire
and in the African and Syrian provinces, "These Sara-
cens believed that all labor tended to the glory of God
and on their Western campaigns they carried rug manu-
facture into Sicily, Spain, France and Italy; and thus
it was introduced throughout Europe. The Saracenice
influence has always affected Persian art which was
Turkish Ottoman or Arabian art, a conventionalized
form of pea leaf and pod, the adaptation of inscrip-
tions and border and frame-work forms in Spain was
2 Mr. John K. Mumford tells us that the lads of seven or eight years sit,
half a dozen or more in a row, before giant frames, tying in the knots with
a swiftness and accuracy which are nothing short of phenomenal. The eye
of the uninitiated will strive in vain to follow the magical twistings of those
small fingers. For the double purpose of drawing the yarns through from
the back and cutting them when once the knot is made fast, the small weavers
are equipped with a knife, the blade of which is beaten into a hook at the
point, something after the fashion of a crochet needle. It serves them in
lieu of several extra fingers, and they manage it as expertly as they do their
own small digits. In no land have I seen a more intelligent lot of boys than
the solemn, black-eyed midgets who, with big, black rimless wool caps on the
backs of their close-shaven polls, sit like old men and weave the superb color
panels of Tabriz.
In the factory of Mr. Hildebrand F. Stevens, whose guest I had the good
fortune to be, there was being woven, at the time of my visit to the Azerbijan
capital, a copy of the renowned mosque carpet of Ardebil (Plate XXII), now
among the treasures of the South Kensington Museum. This famous original
is perhaps without a peer in the world; a masterpiece of color, in the most
intricate of old Persian designs. And the master of the loom on which the
reproduction was being wrought was a lad of twelve years. Little, pale-faced,
bowed with his burden of responsibility, he spent the long summer days walk-
ing up and down behind the eight or nine youngsters, some smaller than him-
self, who in that dim and dusty place were tying in the wondrous flower
traceries over which the greatest Persian designer, some four hundred years
ago, toiled in the palace at Kashan. I scarcely hope to see the American boy
of twelve, without a day's schooling or an A B C to his name, who can carry
on his small shoulders a load like that, or keep that maze of colors in his head.
346 Persia, the Land of the Magi
called Moorish. The adaptive power of the Ottoman
Turks was extraordinary and Ottoman life was mag-
nificent and luxurious. No rugs were more exquisite
than those of ancient Konich (Iconium), Caesarea,
Sebastopol, Sivas and Trebizond. From 1221 to 1620
the Mongol domination affected the Persian arts. The
Chinese poultry and the details of decoration was intro-
duced. On the death of Genghis Khan in 1238, his grand-
son Batic, son of Jugi, inherited in the right of his father
the Western part of the Mongol Empire the Caucasian
country — and his subsequent conquests of Russia,
Poland and Hungary made him the terror of Europe.
Jagatai, the second son of Genghis Khan, inherited the
Turkestan territory; Oklai the third son, inherited
the title of his father and became the Ground Khan.
His part of empire covered Northern China, Afghan-
istan and Beluchistan. The fourth son was Tuli, who
died leaving four sons, one of whom was Mangu, who
subjugated under one dynasty the countries then known
as Khorassan, Persia, Chaldea and Syrice. It was not
a closely knitted dominion. This state of matters was
suddenly terminated in 1381 by the invasion of Tamer-
lane and his Tartars, who spread devastation wherever
they appeared. All Persia was completely at his feet.
When he was carried off by death in 1404, the anarchy
of petty independencies again returned, but was
finally suppressed in 1502 by Ismail Shah, who, partly
by valor and partly by the reputed sanctity of his race
as descended from Mohammed, worked his way to the
Persian throne, and founded the Sefi, or Soofie, dynasty,
which reached its greatest prosperity during the reign
of Shah Abbas or Abbas the Great (ct. D. 1586 1627).
As long as Persia was dominated by the Turks and
The Persian Textile Arts Z\l
Mongols the Persian art was naturally Ottoman, but
in 1586 Shah Abbas ascended the throne of Persia and
soon drove out the Mongols and Ottoman Turks and
resembled Persia, and developed rapidly not only
native art, but adopted European renaissance forms,
the Shah's most famous artists being sent to Italy to
study. During the reign of Shah Abbas, Ispahan
exceeded in splendor all Asiatic cities. The rugs that
were made here were made as well as it is possible to
make a rug, but all rugs found here are not necessarily
of Ispahan manufacture. The best carpets made at
Ispahan were no better than those made at Khoras-
san, the weavers who made exquisite examples at
Teheran reproduced practically the same thing at
Kirman, the Tabriz. The old Persian designs are
reproduced at Herekein3 in Turkey, Sivas, Harput,
Central Anatolia, pile is Persian, sides and ends Turk-
ish ; usually the)' are of the chordes knot and of cotton
warp and filling.
The following statement gives the name of the prov-
ince and the rugs which are peculiar to that section,
'Charles C. MacFarlane mentions this place in his book, "Turkey and
Its Destiny," published in 1850. Writing of the Catholic Armenian Filatura
di Seta, a silk handling concern at Broussa.on the slope of Mount Olympus,
he says: "About a hundred and fifty women and girls were employed here
in winding off silk from the cocoons. They were all either Armenians or
Greeks. Turkish females cannot and will not be thus employed. They will
rather do nothing and starve — and this was what too many of them were
doing at Broussa, even at this season of the year. The Greek ladies were
reported to be far the quicker and cleverer, and the Armenians the more
quiet and orderly. They could earn from nine pence to eleven pence a day;
and this was almost wealth, for the necessaries of life were amazingly cheap
even at this short distance from the capital. An exemplary order and clean-
ness reigned throughout the establishment, which was under the direction of
two intelligent, well-informed Italians. The silk they produced was very
superior to the old Broussa's; but it was all sent to the Sultan's own manu-
factory at Kerek-keui, on the Gulf of Nicomedia, and there either wasted
or worked up at a ruinous expense, or left to accumulate in dirty, damp
magazines. The wheels of this system ran somewhat off the trams; and
before we left Turkey this Filatura was shut up. and the hundred and fifty
females were sent back to their primal state of idleness and poverty.
348 Persia, the Land of the Magi
also with a textile description of the several fine Per-
sian rugs which are exported to the United States of
America giving one various characteristics of identi-
fication.
Azerbijan — Herez (Bakshish, Gorevan, Serapi), Kar-
adagh, souj-Boulak, Kurdestan, Tabriz (Kirman-Shah,
also made elsewhere).
Irak Ajemi — Sultanabad (muskabad, mahal, save-
lans), Koultuk, Hamadan (Qustrinan, Karagues),
Kashan, saruk, Ispahan (antique), Jooshagan, Fera-
ghan, Teheran, (antique).
Ardelan — (Kurdistan) Byar, Kirmanshah (antique),
Senna.
Khorassan — Sarakhs, Khorassan, meshed, Ayin (poor
grade)
Faristan — Sheraz .
Gelan — Ardebil (antique), Saraband.
Taristan — Niris .
Rinnan — Kirman (antique) Kirmanshah (also made
elsewhere) .
Afghanistan — Herat (usually graded as Persian).
Shir as, usually size 3x5, 4x6, etc. Knot, chiordes
or senna, 42 to 130 to sq. in. Warp, wool; sometimes
goat's hair. Weft, wool. Pile, wool, medium, sides
overcast, parti-colored. Ends, wide reddish web with
embroidery effects.
Meshhed and Herat, all sizes. Knot, chiordes, rarely
senna. Warp, wool or cotton. Weft, wool. Pile,
wool, medium. Sides overcast, ends narrow web,
fringe of war, sometimes knotted.
Hamadan are often runners. Knot, chiordes, 56 to
100 to sq. in. Warp, cotton. Weft, cotton or wool.
Pile, wool, camel's hair or Alike, sometimes mixed.
The Persian Textile Arts 349
Sides, overcast. Ends, one end usually selvaged;
other loose warp-ends or knotted fringe.
Ispahan, all sizes (antique). Knot, senna, 120 to
400 to sq. in. Warp, cotton. Weft, cotton. Pile,
fine wool, short. Sides overcast. Ends, fringed or
loose ends.
Kara Dagh, runners. Knot, chiordes, 42 to 120 to
sq. in. Warp, wool Weft, wool. Pile, wool, medium,
sides overcast. Ends, narrow web, loose warp ends.
Tarbriz, all sizes. Knot, chiordes, 100 to 324 to sq.
in. Warp, cotton; sometimes linen or silk. Weft,
cotton, single strand wool, linen. Pile, selected wool,
short, sides overcast, wool or silk; rarely selvage.
Ends, narrow web; sometimes striped; warp ends
loose.
Senna, all sizes. Knot, senna, 100 to 300 to sq. in.
Warp, cotton, linen or silk. Weft, cotton, single strand
wool, linen. Pile, selected wool, very short, sides over-
cast. Ends, narrow web; warp ends usually loose.
Herez, carpet size. Knot, chiordes, 30 to 80 to sq.
in. Warp, usually cotton. Weft, usually cotton. Pile,
wool, long, coarse, sides overcast. Ends, narrow web,
warp ends, loose.
Sultanabed, carpet size. Knots, chirodes, 30 to 80 to
sq. in. Warp, cotton. Weft, cotton. Pile, wool,
long, coarse. Sides overcast. Ends narrow web,
warp loose.
Kirman, all sizes. Knot, senna, 100 to 360 to sq.
in. Warp, cotton. Weft, selected wool, short. Sides
overcast. Ends, narrow web, loose warp ends.
Saritk, all sizes. Knot senna, 100 to 380 to sq. in.
Warp, cotton, sometimes linen. Weft, cotton, some-
times linen. Pile, selected wool, short. Sides over-
350 Persia, the Land of the Magi
cast. Fine silk cord selvage. Ends, narrow web, warp
ends loose.
Kashan, all sizes. Knot, chiordes, 100 to 380 to sq.
in. Warp, cotton, sometimes linen. Weft, cotton,
sometimes linen. Pile, very fine wool, short. Sides,
overcast fine silken cord selvage. Ends, narrow web,
warp ends loose.
Silk rugs of Persia are very fine; when at best are
unsurpassed in beauty. It is distinguished by its
richness, exquisite coloring and rare sheen, but silk
rugs require the most luxurious surroundings; they
are more suitable for decorative purposes. An exquisite
silk rug interwoven with pearls is hung before the
famous peacock throne of the Shah at Teheran. As
the demand for silk rugs is very small they are seldom
woven on speculation. In making silk rugs the greatest
est care is necessary in the shading, often the shading
of woolen rugs is made more effective by the addition
of silk.
Mrs. Bishop tells us "that silk produced at Resht
is brought 'to Kashan to be spun and dyed, then it is
sent to Sultanabad to be woven into rugs. It is next
returned to Resht to have the pile cut by the sharp
instruments used for cutting the velvet pile. After
the rugs are finished, they are sent to Teheran to be
sold."
Many silk rugs are exported from Samarkand, and
at Caesarea silk rugs are woven from copies of the old
Persian designs ; those made in Turkey can be bought
much cheaper.
A good profession of faith in the abiding capabilities
of the Persian weaver is made by Mr. Sidney A. T.
Churchill, for many years secretary of the British
The Persian Textile Arts 351
Legation at Teheran. He says, summing up his review
of the carpet industry of Persia :
"When the difficulties of the weaver are considered;
when one remembers the very little remuneration the
weavers receive for their labor; when one reflects
that they are utterly uneducated, living in squalor —
more often in abject misery, fighting for bare existence
— in a manner the most remote from inducing to art
combination and high tone in color harmony, with
scarcely any encouragement beyond what comes from
earning a miserable means of existence; when to these
troubles one adds the seizing of labor at one fell swoop
by those in authority, visitation of epidemics, carrying
off the weaver and bread-winner of a family or retarding
her work, and the embarrassments of maternity, the
wonder is, not that the carpet industry of the present
day in Persia should have degenerated, but that under
such misfortunes it should even exist.
"Nevertheless, I am convinced that with sufficient
inducement and encouragement the Persian weaver
of to-day could be got to equal the best efforts of his
predecessors, if not to excel them."
CHAPTER XVII.
Account of Afghanistan.
IN denning the limits of Afghanistan, we restrict
ourselves to the country properly so named, which
upon the north is bounded by the crests of the Him-
maleh or Hindoo-Coosh Mountains ; on the east by the
rivers Indus and Jelum; on the south (to the east of
the Indus) by the eastern branch of the Salt Range
Mountains, and (to the west of the Indus) by Seweestan
or Cutch Gundava, and Sareewan of Beloochistan ;
on the west by the Salt Desert and the Heermund;
and on the northwest by the Paropamisam Mountains
and the country of the Hazaras.
The tract thus marked out comprehends a great
variety of soil and scenery, but may be generally
described as an elevated plateau, exhibiting an aggre-
gation of mountains intersected by valleys varying in
fertility no less than in size, and sometimes stretching
out into extensive plains. It divides itself naturally
into separate districts; and a short account of these
may furnish a sufficient idea of its general appearance
and character. The most northern of these divisions
is comprehended in the valley of the Cabul River, and
extends from a point omewhat to the west of the Pass
of Bamian to the Indus. The former of these streams,
one branch of which takes its rise a little to the west
of Ghizni, assumes a northern course to the town of
Cabul, where it is joined by the petty rivulet that gives
its names to the collected waters of the valley. From
thence turning abruptly eastward, it receives every
(352)
Account of Afghanistan 353
brook that flows from the numerous ravines on the
southern face of Hindoo-Coosh, as well as the few
which run from the northern side of the range of
Solyman. Thus augmented it sweeps along with a
rapid current, and pours itself into the Indus, a little
above Attok, in a mass scarcely inferior to that in
which it then becomes lost.
The northern side of the Cabul valley is again classed
into several sections. Of these the eastern and most
remote is that of Cohistan or the mountainous country,
which, commencing in the Paropamisan or Hazara
regions, embraces the low lands of Nijrow, Pun j sheer,
Ghorebund, Tugow, and Oozbeen; the waters of which
united join the Cabul River at Bareekab. These
valleys are described as blessed with a delightful
climate ; embellished with the most enchanting scenery;
producing the finest European fruits in abundance;
watered with a thousand delicious streams, and finely
cultivated.
The district of Lughman comprehends the valleys of
Alingar and Alishung, with the numerous subordinate
glens, all of which are equally rich and beautiful;
together with the fine and fertile plains of Jellalabad,
where the productions of the torrid zone are found
mingled with those of temperate climates. The
impetuous river of Kashkar, which has its rise in the
Pooshti Khur, a peak of the Beloot Taugh, or Cloudy
Mountains, after piercing the Himmaleh, rushes
through the dell of Coonnah to join the Cabul. It is
a hot and low spot, above which the lofty peak of
Coond, forming the termination of an angle at the
junction of the Beloot Taugh and the Hindoo-Coosh,
towers like a mighty buttress capped with eternal
354 Persia, the Land of the Magi
snow. The small valley of Punjcora and the plain of
Bajoor, with their temporary glens, open into the more
extensive and very fertile district of Swaut, where
forest and pasture lands are mingled with high culti-
vation in the most harmonious variety ; and every sort
of fruit and grain is found in perfection and abundance.
The loftier mountains are, however, inhabited by the
Caufirs or Infidels, a singular race of savages, who,
though they believe in one God, worship idols, and
supplicate the deified souls of great men; are remark-
able for the beauty of their persons; but who, from
wearing black clothes, have been called Siapooshes,
or Sableclad. The description now given of Swaut
will apply with little variation to Boonere, Chumla, and
all those valleys which pour their waters either into the
Cabul or the Indus.
The great chain of Hindoo-Coosh is described by
Mr. Elphinstone as rising above the level of Peshawer
in four distinct ranges. The lowest, which on the
24th February was clear of snow, is clothed with
forests of oak, pine, wild-olive, and a variety of other
trees, including every species of natural fruits and
many of the most graceful herbs and flowers, in the
richest profusion. Their sides are furrowed with
multitudes of glens or valleys, each watered by its own
little stream; the lower parts of which are carefully
cultivated. The second series is still more densely
wooded, except towards the top, where snow at that
time sprinkled the elevated peaks. The third was
shrouded half-way down in the same wintry mantle;
while the fourth, constituting the true range of the
stupendous Himmaleh, soared aloft in bold masses
or spiry peaks, deeply covered with sempiternal snows.
Account of Afghanistan 355
At the time when seen by the mission, the snowy
summits were at least 100 miles distant; yet such
was the clearness of the atmosphere, that the ridges
and hollows were distinctly discernible; and instances
have been known of their having been distinguished
at the distance of 250 miles. It is through the valleys
we have described that those passes lead, by which
travelers1 are enabled to cross this magnificent barrier.
The principal of these bear the names of B amain and
Ghorebund, conducting into the territories of Balkh,
and by which the Emperor Baber made his way to
Cabul. They are all extremely difficult, and only
passable during the months of summer and early
autumn.
The plain of Peshawer itself forms a division of the
Cabul valley. It is a circular tract of about thirty-
five miles in diameter, with a soil of rich, black mould,
and so well watered, that but for the extreme heats
of summer it would be covered with perpetual verdure.
It is divided from the more elevated grounds of Jella-
labad by a small range of hills which stretch across
from the Hindoo-Coosh to the Suffeid-Koh. In this
fertile spot the inhabitants enjoy a better climate than
at Peshawer; yet, although the snow-covered masses
of Coond and of the Suffeid-Koh rear themselves on
either hand, the heat in summer is intensely great. The
third division comprises the valley of Cabul, properly
1 While we write, the intrepid perseverance of two British officers and the
zeal of a missionary have achieved this enterprise, hitherto unattempted by
Europeans. The converted Jew, Joseph Wolff, after traversing Persia, Bok-
hara, and Balkh, crossed into Cabul by the Bamian Pass. At that city he
met Lieutenants Burnes and Gerrard, who, after surveying the Indus, had
traversed Afghanistan from Hindostan with the intention of passing into
Persia. This they performed, crossing at the same place, and, after various
adventures, arriving at Teheran.
356 Persia, the Land of the Magi
so named, which enjoys the temperature and all the
productions of the most favored regions.
In order to comprehend the features of the country
to the south of the Cabul plain, it is necessary to
describe the Solyman range, that occupies so great a
portion of its surface, and which probably derives
its appellation from the huge mountain called the
Tucht e Solyman. This towering mass, which may
be said to originate in the lofty peak of Speenghur or
Suffeid-Koh, to the south of Jellalabad, and which,
spreading to the east and west, forms the southern
boundary of the Cabul valley, throws several contin-
uous ridges far to the southward. Of these, one assum-
ing a southwesterly direction runs quite to the borders
of Beloochistan ; another pursues a more southern
course, and with several interruptions and variations
of height reaches the confines of Seweestan. The
country between these principal barriers is occupied
by groups of mountains connected with each other;
in some places opening out into plains of various
extent, and in others pierced by the courses of the rivers
which drain the whole tract. Some of these are covered
with deep forests of pine and wild-olive trees; others
are bare and sterile, or merely afford a scanty pasture
to the flocks which are reared on them.
We may now return to Cabul, from whence a long
valley opens to the southwest, ascending towards
Ghizni, and receiving tributary streams from the glens
of the eastern face of the Solyman range. It reaches
an elevated tract destitute of wood, but interspersed
with spots of rich cultivation, among which appear
the ruins of the ancient city. The river Turnuk,
which rises some thirty miles southwest of those
Account of Afghanistan 357
remains, pursues the same direction through a valley
poorly watered and ill cultivated, till, uniting with
the Urghundab and other streams, it joins the Heer-
mund at a considerable distance to the west of Can-
dahar.
This last-mentioned town stands in a fertile and
highly-improved country ; but the desert circumscribes
it on most sides within narrow limits. Several other
valleys slope down from the Solyman range towards
the desert on the east of the Heermund, as Gwashta,
Urhgessan, Saleh Yesoon, Toba, Pisheen, Burshore,
and Shawl. They are in general better suited for
pasturage than agriculture, yet are interspersed with
well-cultivated spots ; and the two last are particularly
rich and flourishing. The hills are in some places
clothed with trees, among which is a sort of gigantic
cypress, and the plains are in others covered with
tamarisks.
The other southern districts which border on Se-
weestan, as Furrah, Tull, and Chooteeallee, have some
resemblance to that province, but enjoy a better climate,
and are more sedulously cultivated; while the plain
of Boree, north of these, is compared in extent and
fertility to that of Peshawer. The central division
includes several beautiful valleys, with two consider-
able rivers, the Zhobe and the Gomul, which run to
the eastward and unite their waters. The whole
tract, though it appears not to be by any means desti-
tute of fertility, is not well calculated for agriculture.
Farther north, the Koorum, traversing the country
from west to east, cuts through the range of Solyman,
and enters the Indus near Kagulwalla.
Daman alone remains to be noticed. The term itself
358 Persia, the Land of the Magi
signifies the skirts of the hills; but the tract in ques-
tion is divided into three parts: First, Muckelwaud,
a plain consisting of a hard, tenacious clay, bare or
scantily sprinkled with tamarisk and thorny shrubs,
about 120 miles square, on the banks of the Indus.
Its principal town is Derah Ismael Khan, which is but
thinly peopled.- Secondly, the country of the Mur-
wuts, a tract of thirty-five miles square, to the north-
ward of the former; and, thirdly, Daman Proper,
which extends along the foot of the mountains of
Solyman, and resembles Muckelwaud, but is more
closely inhabited, and better cultivated.
The country which we have thus endeavored to
sketch is occupied by a multitude of tribes, who claim
a common origin, and form a nation differing widely
in character, appearance, and manners, from all the
states by whom they are surrounded; while, at the
same time, the diversity that exists among themselves
is not less remarkable. "Amid the contrasts which
are apparent in the government, manners, dress, and
habits of the different tribes," observes Mr. Elphin-
stone, "I find it difficult to select those great features
which all possess in common, and which give a marked
national character to the whole of Afghans. This
difficulty is increased by the fact, that those qualities
which distinguish them from all their neighbors are
by no means the same which, without reference to
such a comparison, would appear to Europeans to
predominate in their character. The freedom which
forms their grand distinction among the nations of
the East might seem to an Englishman a mixture
of anarchy and arbitrary power; and the manly
virtues that raise them above their neighbors might
Account of Afghanistan 359
sink in his estimation almost to the level of the oppo-
site defects. It may therefore assist in appreciating
their situation and character, to figure the aspects
they would present to a traveler from England, and to
one from India.
"If a man could be transported from England to the
Afghan country without passing through the dominions
of Turkey, Persia, or Tartary, he would be amazed
at the wide and unfrequented deserts, and the moun-
tains covered with perennial snow. Even in the culti-
vated part of the country he would discover a wild
assemblage of hills and wastes, unmarked by enclosures,
not embellished by trees, and destitute of navigable
canals, public roads, and all the great and elaborate
productions of human industry and refinement. He
would find the towns few, and far distant from each
other; and he would look in vain for inns or other
conveniences which a traveler would meet with in
the wildest parts of Great Britain. Yet he would
sometimes be delighted with the fertility and populous-
ness of particular plains and valleys, where he would
see the productions of Europe mingled in profusion
with those of the torrid zone, and the land labored
with an industry and a judgment nowhere surpassed.
He would see the inhabitants following their flocks
in tents, or assembled in villages, to which the terraced
roofs and mud walls give an appearance entirely new.
He would be struck at first with their high and even
harsh features, their sunburnt countenances, their
long beards, their loose garments, and their shaggy
mantles of skins. When he entered into the society,
he would notice the absence of regular courts of justice,
and of every thing like an organized police. He would
360 Persia, the Land of the Magi
be surprised at the fluctuation and instability of the
civil institutions. He would find it difficult to compre-
hend how a nation could subsist in such disorder;
and would pity those who were compelled to pass their
days in such a scene, and whose minds were trained
by their unhappy situation to fraud and violence, to
rapine, deceit, and revenge. Yet he would scarce
fail to admire their martial and lofty spirit, their
hospitality, and their bold and simple manners, equally
removed from the suppleness of a citizen and the
awkward rusticity of a clown; and he would, probably,
before long discover, among so many qualities that
excited his disgust, the rudiments of many virtues.
"But an English traveler from India would view
them with a more favorable eye. He would be pleased
with the cold climate, elevated by the wild and novel
scenery, and delighted by meeting many of the pro-
ductions of his native land. He would first be struck
with the thinness of the fixed population, and then with
the appearance of the people; not fluttering in white
muslins, while half their bodies are naked, but soberly
and decently attired in dark-colored woolen clothes,
and wrapped up in brown mantles, or in large sheepskin
cloaks. He would admire their strong and active
forms; their fair complexions and European features;
their industry and enterprise ; the hospitality, sobriety,
and contempt of pleasure which appear in all their
habits; and, above all, the independence and energy
of their character. In India, he would have left a
country where every movement originates in the gov-
ernment or its agents, and where the people absolutely
go for nothing; and he would find himself among
a nation where the control of the government is scarcely
Account of Afghanistan 361
felt, and where every man appears to pursue his own
inclination undirected and unrestrained. Amid the
stormy independence of this mode of life, he would
regret the ease and security in which the state of India,
and even the indolence and timidity of its inhabitants,
enable most parts of that country to repose. He
would meet with many productions of art and nature
that do not exist in India; but, in general, he would
find the arts of life less advanced, and many of the
luxuries of Hindostan unknown. On the whole, his
impression of his new acquaintances would be favorable ;
although he would feel, that without having lost the
ruggedness of a barbarous nation, they were tainted
with the vices common to all Asiatics. Yet he would
reckon them virtuous, compared with the people to
whom he had been accustomed; would be inclined
to regard them with interest and kindness; and could
scarcely deny them a portion of his esteem."
Such is the masterly sketch given of the Afghan
country and people, whom we shall now examine
somewhat more in detail. Their origin is obscure,
and probably remote. According to their own tradi-
tions, they believe themselves descended from the
Jews; and in a history of the Afghans,2 written in
the sixteenth century, and lately translated from the
Persian, they are derived from Afghan, the son of
Eremia, the son of Saul, king of Israel, whose posterity
being carried away at the time of the Captivity, was
settled by the conqueror in the Mountains of Ghori,
Cabul, Candahar, and Ghizni. The historian goes
on to say, that they preserved the purity of their
religion; and that when Mohammed, the last and
1 By Neamut Ullah, translated by the Translation Society.
362 Persia, the Land of the Magi
greatest of the prophets, appeared, one of the nation,
named Kais, at the invitation of the celebrated Khaled
ibn Walid, repaired to Mecca, and, together with his
countrymen, embraced Islam. Having joined the
standard of the Faithful, and fought in their cause, he
returned to his own country, where his progeny con-
tinued to observe the new religion, to propagate its
doctrines, and to slay the infidels. No proof is adduced
of the truth of this traditional genealogy, which
assuredly has much the aspect of fable ; and the opinion
of the intelligent author already quoted on the sub-
ject may be gathered from his own words. "I fear
we must class the descent of the Afghans from the
Jews, with that of the Romans and the Britons from
the Trojans, and that of the Irish from the Milesians
or the Bramins."
It is to be observed, that the term Afghan, as applied
to the nation, is unknown to the inhabitants of the
country, except through the medium of the Persian
language. Their own name for themselves is Poosh-
toon — in the plural Pooshtauneh — from which, prob-
ably by the usual process of verbal corruption, comes
the term Peitan or Patan, by which they are known in
India.
But, setting fable and conjecture aside, there is no
doubt that the country in question has been inhabited
by their tribes from a very distant period. Those of
Soor and Lodi, from both of whom kings have issued,
are mentioned as owing their extraction to the union
of Khaled ibn Abdoollah, an Arab leader, with the
daughter of an Afghan chief, in A. D. 682. They are
mentioned by Ferishta repeatedly, as having withstood
the progress of the Saracens in the early ages of
Account of Afghanistan 363
Mohammedan conquest. In the ninth century, they
were subject to the house of Saman ; and though Sultan
Mahmoud of Ghizni himself sprang from another race,
his power, and the mighty empire of which his capital
was the seat and center, was undoubtedly maintained
in a great measure by the hardy troops of the Afghan
mountains. In fact, though these tribes have given
birth to the founders of many powerful dynasties, the
individual sovereigns have seldom been contented to
fix their residence in their native land. Thus the
Chorees, Ghiljees, and the Lodees, as they rose into
power, turned their arms to the eastward, and erected
their thrones in the capital of Hindostan. Afghan-
istan, accordingly, has seldom been more than a prov-
ince or appendage to some neighboring empire; and
although the impracticable nature of the country, and
the brave and independent spirit of the people, have
often baffled the efforts of the most powerful princes,
there is not a conqueror of Central Asia by whom it
has not been overrun and reduced to at least a nominal
and temporary obedience.
But a history of its various revolutions is not our
present object. We therefore resume the account of
those tribes which form the nation; and, following
the arrangement of Mr. Elphinstone, we shall first
lay before our readers such characteristics as are com-
mon to the whole; after which we shall make the
individual exceptions that require notice. The tribes
of Afghanistan, though at the present time infinitely
subdivided, continue in a great measure unmixed, each
having its separate territory, and all retaining the
patriarchal form of government. The term of Ooloos
is applied either to a whole tribe or to an independent
364 Persia, ike Land of the Magi
branch of it. Each has it own immediate ancestor,
and constitutes a complete commonwealth in itself.
Each subdivision has its chief, — a Speen Zherah3
(literally, white-beard) or Mullik (master), if it con-
sist of but a few families, — a khan if it be an ooloos,
which is always chosen from the oldest family. The
selection of this office rests in most cases with the king,
— in others with the people themselves. It is a peculi-
arity, however, arising probably from the internal
arrangement of an Afghan tribe, that the attachment
of those who compose it, unlike that of most countries,
is always rather to the community than to the chief;
and a native holds the interests of the former so com-
pletely paramount, that the private wish of the latter
would be utterly disregarded by him, if at variance
with the honor or advantage of his kheil4 or ooloos.
The internal government is carried on by the khan,
in conjunction with certain assemblies of heads of
divisions : such a meeting is called a jeerga, and before
it all affairs of consequence are brought for considera-
tion. But this system of rule is liable to many modi-
fications. In all civil actions the statutes of Moham-
med are generally adhered to; but criminal justice is
administered according to the Pooshtoonwullee or usage
of the Afghans, — a system of law sufficiently rude.
In conformity with this, private revenge, though
denounced by the mollahs, is sanctioned by public
opinion; and the measure of retribution, "an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," is strictly enforced.
But the evil consequences of this retaliating system,
which leads to new disputes, and tends to perpetuate
' The same as Reish Suffed in Persian, or Ak Sukhal in Turkish.
* Kheil is synonymous with clan.
Account of Afghanistan 365
every quarrel, have given rise to judicial jeergas,
composed of khans, elders, and mollahs, who take
cognizance of criminal actions, and inflict penalties
suitable to each offense. These, when the crime has
been committed against an individual, generally include
an humble apology to him, together with such com-
pensation as seems reasonable to the court ; and in this
solatium the gift of a certain number of females is not
unfrequently included.5 The reconciliation is enforced
by the acceptance of mutual hospitality, and is said
generally to be firm and sincere. In cases of obstinacy,
or delay in complying with the decision of the jeerga,
the penalties are malediction and interdict by the
mollahs, expulsion from the ooloos, and seizure of
the culprit's property.
There are likewise other modes of adjusting private
disputes. An offender, in grave cases, presents him-
self as a suppliant at the house of some considerable
man of his tribe, who, assembling a few other persons
of respectability, together with some seyeds and mol-
lahs, goes to the house of the aggrieved party, taking
with him the culprit dressed in a shroud. The offender
then, placing a drawn sword in the hand of him he
has injured, declares his life to be at his mercy ; upon
which, according to the usage of Pooshtoonwullee,
pardon cannot be refused. A compensation is always
offered for the loss sustained; and if the individual
upon whom it has been inflicted be averse to recon-
ciliation, he takes care to be out of the way when the
deputation arrives.
The prevalence of feuds, and the passion for pred-
• This, as an Afghan always purchases his wife, is no trifling part of the
penalty.
366 Persia, the Land of the Magi
atory excursions, not only nurses a martial spirit
among the people, but renders a military establish-
ment indispensably necessary. The footing, however,
on which the army is placed, varies according to cir-
cumstances. Thus, while in some tribes every man is
bound to take up arms at the summons of the jeerga,
in others the service of a foot-soldier for every plough,
or of a horseman for every two, is all that can be
required. These persons receive no pay; but in some
cases, when a horse is killed, its price is made good to
the owner from the funds of the community.
A family which for any reason is induced to quit
its own ooloos may, by the customs and rules of Afghan
hospitality, be admitted into another; and, once
received, it is treated with peculiar attention, and
placed in all respects on a footing of equality with the
original members of the community. Every ooloos
has many persons called humsayahs attached to it
who are not Afghans: they are regarded with con-
sideration, but not allowed to have any share in the
administration of affairs.
Of societies such as we have endeavored to describe
under their various designations of kheils, oolooses,
and tribes, the Afghan nation is composed; and cir-
cumstances have of late times placed it under the
government of one common sovereign. His authority
is, however, by no means paramount; for the same
spirit which leads them to prefer the interests of their
respective clans to that of their chiefs is also repug-
nant to such devoted loyalty as would strengthen the
power of a prince. Thus the sway of the late Door-
anee monarchs, although sufficiently recognized among
their own tribe and in the districts adjoining the prin-
Account of Afghanistan 367
cipal towns of the kingdom, has at all times been imper-
fect among those more remote, and among the moun-
taineers was scarcely acknowledged at all. Enabled
through his great family influence to maintain an
efficient army independent of the people, he possesses
the means of interfering to a certain extent with the
internal management of the tribes within his reach;
but even with them any attempt at undue authority
would be resented. By way of illustrating the nature
and condition of the Afghan government, Mr. Elphin-
stone compares it to the power of the kings of Scotland
over the principal towns and the country immediately
around them. The precarious submission of the
nearest clans and the independence of the remote
ones, — the inordinate pride of the court nobility,
and the general relations borne by all the great lords
to the crown, — exemplify very exactly the correspond-
ng- imperfections in the Dooranee constitution. The
system, notwithstanding its obvious defects, is con-
sidered by that author as not devoid of certain advan-
tages, chiefly as affoiding a check to the corruption
and oppression to which the officers of a despot are
so prone; and that, while conniving at little disorders,
it affords a certain security against the great and
calamitous revolutions which so frequently occurred,
particularly upon the death of a monarch. It is not
without much hesitation that we should venture to dis-
sent from such authority ; though the facts seem scarce-
ly sufficient to support the reasoning. Individual tribes
may by their internal administration have partially
escaped the effects arising from the subversion of the
government, but nothing can be more wretched than
the present condition of the kingdom of Cabul.
368 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
The usages of the Afghans with regard to their
females assimilate very nearly with those of most
Mohammedan nations. Such as live in towns are
secluded with the customary jealousy; while those who
dwell in the country are of necessity permitted to enjoy
a far greater degree of liberty. As they purchase their
wives, — a common Asiatic practice, — the women,
though generally well-treated, are regarded in some
measure as property. A husband can divorce his
spouse at pleasure; but the latter can only sue for
relief before the cauzee, and that on good grounds.
As with the Jews of old, it is thought incumbent on a
man to marry the widow of a deceased brother; and
it is a moral affront to him should any other person
take her without his consent. The widow, however,
is not obliged to enter into a new engagement; and if
she have children it is thought more becoming for
her to remain single.
The age of marriage among them is twenty for the
one sex and sixteen for the other; but such as are
unable to pay the price of a wife (which varies accord-
ing to their condition and means) often remain
unmarried till forty. In towns, the mode of courtship
and the arrangements for marriage so nearly resemble
those of the Persians that no particular description
is necessary; but in the country, where the women go
unveiled, and there is less restraint upon the inter-
course between the young, matches are made as in
European countries, according to the fancy and liking
of the parties. It is even in the power of an enter-
prising lover to obtain his mistress without the consent
of her parents, by cutting off a lock of her hair, snatch-
ing away her veil, or throwing over her a sheet, and
Account of Afghanistan 369
proclaiming her his affianced wife. No other person
will after this approach her with such views; and the
payment of her price (from which this act does not
exempt him) induces the father generally to yield his
consent to the match. If not, the usual recourse is
an elopement, — which, however, is as high an out-
rage as a murder, and is usually expiated by the sup-
plicatory process already mentioned.
With regard to the intercourse of betrothed persons
prior to marriage, the usages of tribes differ. Some
enjoin the most positive separation until the knot is tied.
Among others, the bridegroom is required to live with
his father-in-law, and earn his wife by service, as Jacob
did Rachel, without ever seeing the object of his affec-
tion. With a third class, again, an excessive and
somewhat perilous degree of familiarity is permitted.
Polygamy is less practised among them than in other
Mohammedan states, probably on account of their
poverty. The poor content themselves with one wife;
and two, with an equal number of concubines, are
reckoned a liberal establishment for persons in middle
rank.
The condition of women in Afghanistan is nearly
the same as in other parts of Asia. The rich in their
concealment enjoy all the comforts and luxuries suited
to their rank in life. The poor employ themselves in
household labor, to which, among the ruder tribes,
that of field-work is added. In towns they go about
as in Persia, covered with a large sheet, commonly
white, which envelops their whole person, and wear
large cotton boots which hide the shape of their legs.
In the country, the only restraint they lie under is
that of general opinion, which induces them to cover
370 Persia, the Land of the Magi
their faces immediately if they see a man approach-
ing with whom they are not on terms of intimacy.
They are kind and humane, and at the same time
remarkable for correction of deportment.
The Afghans conduct the education of their children
much as other Mohammedans do. The poor send
them to a mollah to learn their prayers and read the
Koran. The rich keep priests as private tutors in
their houses. In every village and camp there is a
schoolmaster, who enjoys his allotted portion of land,
and receives a small contribution from his pupils.
When those intended for the learned professions are
sufficiently advanced, they go to some city, Peshawer
in particular, to study logic, theology, or law. A
nation so rude can have no high pretensions to literary
attainments. Mr. Elphinstone has given some speci-
mens of their political compositions, which are not
calculated to inspire any lofty ideas of their value.
The Pushtoo dialect appears to consist of an original
stock, embracing a considerable proportion of Persian,
with a few words of Zend and Sanscrit; but no trace
of similarity could be discovered to the Hebrew Chal-
daic, Georgian, or Armenian tongues. In writing it
they make use of the Persian alphabet and the Niskee
character.
In religious matters the Afghans, who are all Sonness,
are generally more liberal and tolerant than other
Mohammedans. Hindoos, upon being subjected to a
slight tax, are allowed to occupy the towns without
molestation. Christians sustain neither persecution
nor reproach for their faith; shehahs are much more
the object of aversion; yet the country is full of Per-
sians, many of whom hold important offices in the
Account of Afghanistan 371
state, and even in the royal household. Suffeeism is
prevalent there; and, though denounced by the mol-
lahs, continues to gain ground, particularly among the
higher orders. Even the dissolute doctrines of Mollah
Zuckee6 are alleged to have their supporters among
the nobles of the court ; and to this day there are said
to be about Peshawer some adherents of the sect of
Sheik Bayazeed Ansaurie,7 whose genius raised a
storm that even menaced the throne of the great Akbar.
The Afghans, in truth, notwithstanding their liber-
ality and toleration, are fully as superstitious as any
people on earth. For example, they are devout
believers in alchemy and magic, in which they conceive
the Indian ascetics to excel ; they have perfect faith in
the efficacy of charms, philtres, and talismans; they
place all possible credit in dreams, divination, the
existence of ghosts and genii; and there is no nation
more implicitly led by their priests. These holy men,
who are deeply imbued with the esprit du corps, and
are often persons of powerful and active minds, being
in possession of all the learning in the country, and
having in their hands all that regards the education of
youth, the practice of law, and administration of justice,
exert their influence so effectually as to control the
authority of royalty itself. A power so absolute could
neither be acquired nor maintained without some por-
tion of intrinsic virtue and wisdom, and it is not denied
that the authority of the mollahs is frequently exerted
• These sectarians hold that all the prophets were impostors, all revelation
an invention, and seem very doubtful of the truth of a future state, and even
of the being of a God. Their tenets appear to be very ancient.
7 This pious person taught that the Divinity was pleased to manifest him-
self completely in the person of himself and other holy men; and that all
those who thought otherwise were in fact dead, and that their goods, in con-
sequence, justly fell to the lot of his partisans, as the only survivors.
372 Persia, the Land of the Magi
to repress violence and to prevent bloodshed. These
sacred peacemakers are frequently seen interposing
their flowing garments between two hostile tribes,
holding aloft the Koran, and calling on the wrathful
combatants to remember their God, and respect the
ministers of their common faith. But, on the other
hand, they are arrogant, overbearing, and revenge-
ful; an affront, or even a slight, is resented in the
most implacable manner; and anathemas are hurled
against the offender by a whole army of furious divines,
who urge the rest of the comm unity to avenge their
cause. True virtue and piety are incompatible with
such a spirit; and we find, in fact, that the mollahs
of Afghanistan are hypocritical, bigoted, and avaricious.
They are fond of preaching up an austere life, and of
discouraging the most innocent pleasures. In some
parts of the country they even break lutes and fiddles
wherever they find them. They are sanctimonious
in public, but some of them practice all sorts of licen-
tiousness that can be enjoyed without scandal, and
many are notorious for the practice of usury.
Beisdes this blind regard for their mollahs, the
Afghans are remarkable for their admiration of der-
vises, calunders, and other ascetics who lay claim to
a peculiar share of celestial favor. The tombs of such
holy persons are visited as places of worship by the
pious, and in all ordinary cases are considered as
asylums, — even from revenge for blood. So high is this
respect carried, that a sovereign prince, in the pres-
ence of certain very eminent saints, will not sit down
until he is entreated.
One of the most remarkable characteristics of this
people is their hospitality. The practice of this virtue
Account of Afghanistan 373
is founded so much on a national feeling, that their
reproach to a niggardly man is, that "he has no Poosh-
toonwullee," — that is, nothing of the custom of the
Afghans. There are some usages connected with this
principle which deserve mention; of which the most
remarkable is that of Nannawautee (two Pooshtoo
words, meaning, "I have come in"). A person having
a favor to entreat, goes to the tent or house of the
individual on whom it depends, but refuses to sit on
his carpet or partake of his food until he shall grant
the boon required. Custom makes it a point of honor
to concede the request, if in the power of the party
thus besought. A still stronger appeal is that made
by a woman when she sends her veil, and implores
assistance for herself or her family.
The laws of hospitality in Afghanistan protect every
individual without exception. Even a man's bitterest
enemy is safe when beneath his roof. This sacred
regard to the personal security of a guest is universally
observed, or at least professed by all savage and patri-
archal nations ; and even among people more advanced
towards refinement, the traces of such generous cus-
toms are still to be discovered. They appear to have
arisen from the dread of those horrors which the
want of a regular government would infallibly pro-
duce. Yet is it not less curious than painful to remark,
how soon these laudable institutions — these suggestions
of the better feelings of our nature — cease to operate
upon the dispositions of the very men who affect
to be so scrupulously governed by them. The pro-
tection confered by the rights of hospitality does
not extend beyond the lands of the village, or, at most,
of the tribe; and a European would be astonished to
374 Persia, the Land of the Magi
find that, after the most kindly intercourse, the stranger
who has received it is as much exposed as any other
traveler to be robbed and plundered.
"There is no point in the Afghan character," remarks
Mr. Elphinstone, "of which it is more difficult to
get a clear idea, than the mixture of sympathy and
indifference, of generosity and rapacity, which is observ-
able in their conduct to strangers. In parts of the
country where the government is weak, they seem
to think it a matter of course to rob a stranger, while
in all other respects they treat him with kindness and
civility. So much more do they attend to granting
favors than to respecting rights, that the same Afghan
who would plunder a traveler of his cloak if he had
one, would give him a cloak if he had none."8 He
attributes this singular turn of mind to a defect in the
Pooshtoonwullee system, which relies upon the exer-
tions of the injured party, or of his family for obtain-
ing justice; while the impunity which attends the
plunder of those who have not the means of enforcing
justice encourages the practice of rapine. But to
this it may be objected, that the very same habits are
found to prevail where there is no Pooshtoonwullee to
account for them; and the same causes which makes
the Arabs, the Turkomans, the Belooches, the Kurds,
and other wandering tribes of Persia notorious as rob-
bers, may suffice to account for a similar disposition
among the Afghans.
It is remarked that the pastoral tribes in the west
are more addicted to robbery and theft than the agri-
8 May not this originate in the pride of power, in the wantonness of a spirit
of independence, as probably as in the mingled love of gain and liberality?
The act of plundering, as well as that of bestowing, imply superiority of power,
and thus gratify personal vanity.
Account of Afghanistan 375
cultural ones. With all of them, however, except the
Khyberees, a previous agreement with the chiefs will
secure a safe passage through their territories, and
even the presence of a single man is in most cases a
sufficient protection. It is also said that the Afghans
do not aggravate those crimes by murder; and that
though a person may lose his life in defending his
property, he is not likely to be put to death after ceas-
ing to resist.
The common reproach of ignorance, barbarism, and
stupidity brought against this interesting people by
the Persians, is perhaps not well founded. They have
not indeed the refinement possessed by some of their
neighbors, and want of intercourse with nations more
advanced in the arts of life may have prevented the
expansion of their understandings; but the bulk of
the people are remarkable for prudence, good sense,
and observation, to which may be added a sufficient
share of curiosity. Though far less veracious than
Europeans in general, and not very scrupulous about
deceiving others when their interest is concerned, they
are by no means so utterly indifferent to truth as the
natives of Persia and India. Love of gain and the
love of independence appear to be their ruling pas-
sions; but the first influences their conduct as individ-
uals, the second sways them more in their social and
public relations. Most of the Dooranee lords, for
instance, prefer hoarding useless treasures to the
esteem and power and reputation which liberality would
command; yet even with them personal equality and
national independence is ever in their mouths . "Happy
is the country, and praiseworthy is the government,"
say they, "where every man eats the produce of his
376 Persia, the Land of the Magi
own field, and no one concerns himself with his neigh-
bor's business." But well as each loves his own free-
dom, the feeling appears to be exceeded by that of
devotedness to family and clan ; and though this spirit
tends to diminish their loyalty, and in some degree
their patriotism, they all take a lively interest in the
"Nung du Pooshtauneh," or honor of the Afghan
name, and prefer their own land to any upon earth.
A native of the wild valley of Speiga, who had been
forced to fly his country for some offense, was relating
his adventures, and enumerating the countries he had
traveled through, comparing them with his own. "I
have seen," said he, "all Persia and India, Georgia,
Tartary, and Beloochistan, but in all my travels I
have seen no such place as Speiga."
They are proud of their descent, and will hardly
acknowledge one who cannot prove his genealogy six or
seven generations back. They are kind to all who are
in their power, whatever may be their country or
religion; but vanished nations are less considerately
treated than individuals. Their fierce independence
and affectation of general equality dispose them to
jealousy and envy; though where these passions do
not come into operation, they are said to be faithful
friends; and perhaps it may be owing to a principle
of gratitude and honor combined, that they are found
to be more zealous in performing a service after having
received a present than when it is only expected.
"I know no people in Asia," says Mr. Elphinstone
when speaking of their character, "who have fewer
vices, or are less voluptuous or debauched;" but this
is more remarkable in the west, where evil example is
less prevalent. They are industrious and laborious
Account of Afghanistan 377
when pursuing any object either of business or of
pleasure; but when not so excited they are indolent.
"To sum up their character in a few words," con-
cludes the same judicious author, "their vices are
revenge, envy, avarice, rapacity, and obstinacy; on
the other hand, they are fond of liberty, faithful to
their friends, kind to their dependents, hospitable,
brave, hardy, frugal, laborious, and prudent; and they
are less disposed than the nations in their neighbor-
hood to falsehood, intrigue, and deceit."
The men of Afghanistan are for the most part of a
robust make, generally lean, though muscular and
bony. They have elevated noses, high cheekbones,
and long faces. Their hair is commonly black, though
it is sometimes brown, and more rarely red. They
wear long thick beards, but shave the middle of the
head. The western tribes are stouter than those to
the east; the latter have the national features more
strongly marked, and have usually dark complexions,
although many are as fair as Europeans. In dress
and manners the former approximate somewhat to
the Persians, while those of the east have borrowed in
the same degree from India; and it is to be remarked,
that the fashions thus once adopted are never changed.
In their manners the Afghans are frank and open,
equally free from stateliness and puerility. Their
amusements are much the same as in Persia. When
not in action, they are fond of sitting in conversation,
and now and then passing round a calleeoon; but
their favorite mode of using tobacco is in snuff, and of
this, — a high-dried fine powder like the Scotch, — they
use immoderate quantities. They are very social
people, and delight in dinner-parties; at which, among
378 Persia, the Land of the Magi
the common and middle calsses, the fare is generally
boiled mutton, with the broth seasoned with salt and
pepper, and in this they soak their bread. After this
meal they usually smoke, or, forming a circle, tell
stories and sing songs, the subject of which is gener-
ally love, and accompany them upon instruments
resembling guitars, fiddles, and hautboys. Their tales,
like those of the Arabian Nights, are for the most part
about kings and their viziers, genii and fairies, and
always end with a moral. All sit slient while the nar-
rative proceeds, and when ended there is a general
cry of "Ai shawash!" (Ah, well done!)
Among the more active amusements may be reck-
oned that of the chase. Large parties, both on foot
and horseback, assemble and drive all the game of a
district into some small valley, where they attack it
with dogs and guns, and often make a great slaughter.
More frequently they go out with greyhounds to
course hares, foxes, and deer. In winter they track
wolves and other wild animals in the snow, and kill
them in their dens. They never shoot birds flying,
but fire at them with small shot as they sit or run.
There is little hawking practiced, but they ride down
partridges on the open ground, — an easy feat, as the
bird after two or three flights becomes frightened and
fatigued, and suffers itself to be struck with a stick.
They are fond of horseracing, and make matches at
firearms, or bows and arrows. They likewise fight
cocks, quails, dogs, rams, and even camels, for a din-
ner or some other small stake.
The Western Afghans are fond of a particular dance
called attum or ghoomboor, in which from ten to
twenty people move in strange attitudes, with shout-
Account of Afghanistan 379
ing, clapping of hands, and snapping of fingers, in a
circle, round a single person who plays on an instru-
ment in the centre.
The dress of these tribes, which, indeed, seems to be
the true national costume, consists of a loose pair of
trousers of dark cotton stuff, a large shirt like a wag-
oner's frock reaching below the knees, a low cap resem-
bling that of a hulan, the sides being of black silk
or satin, and the top of some sort of brocade. The feet
are covered with a pair of half-boots that lace up to
the calf, and over all is thrown a cloak of well tanned
sheepskin with the wool inside, or of soft gray felt.
The women wear a shirt like that of the men, but
much longer, and made of finer materials, generally
colored or embroidered with flowers in silk. They
have colored trousers, tighter than those of the other
sex, and a small cap of bright colored silk embroidered
with gold thread, which comes down to the forehead
or the ears, and a large sheet, either of plain or printed
cotton, which they throw over their heads, and with
which they hide their faces when a stranger approaches.
In the west the females often tie a black handerchief
over their caps.9 They divide the hair on the brow,
and plait it into two locks, which fasten behind. Their
ornaments are strings of Venetian sequins worn round
their heads, and chains of gold or silver which are
hooked up and end in two large balls hanging down
on either side. Earrings and fingerrings are worn,
as are pendants in the middle cartilage of the nose.
Such is the common dress of either sex; but is it sub-
ject to infinite variety, as it happens to be influenced
by foreign intercourse, or difference of fashion in
9 A Persian fashion.
380 Persia, the Land of the Magi
particular tribes. In towns the fashions approach
those of Persia or India, according to the proximity
of the one or the other country.
The principal cities of Afghanistan are Candahar,
Ghinzi, Cabul, and Peshawer; and of these the two
first are celebrated both in Eastern romance and his-
tory. The ancient castle of Candahar was situated
upon a high rocky hill ; but Nadir Shah, after taking the
fortress, perhaps unwilling to leave so strong a place
in the hands of a people in whom he could not confide,
destroyed both, and founded upon the contiguous plain
a new city, which he called Nadirabad. This, which
was completed by Ahmed Shah Dooranee, is now
denominated Candahar, and occupied, in the time of
Foster, a square of about three miles in compass;
surrounded by an ordinary fortification. It was then
populous and flourishing; and, as it lies in the route
which directly connects India with Persia, it is still
an important entrepot. The bazaar is well filled, and
many rich Hindoo merchants are found there, who
occupy an extensive range of shops filled with valuable
merchandise.
The ruins of ancient Ghinzi form a striking contrast
to the flourishing condition of Candahar. Little now
remains to tell of the glories of the mighty Mahmoud.
"The Palace of Felicity," like other gay visions of
human happiness, has passed away; while the gloomy
mausoleum which contains his dust holds forth a strik-
ing moral to the pride of kings. It is a spacious but
not a magnificent building, and still exhibits memorials
of the sovereign whose remains it protects. The
sandal-wood gates which he brought from the temple
of Sumnaut continue to fill the huge doorways; and
Account of Afghanistan 381
the plain but weighty mace, which in the hands of the
"Iconoclast" himself dashed the grisly image to the
ground, lies idle and harmless at the head of the marble
tomb.
Among the few remains of the Ghiznevide monarchs,
the most important is an embankment thrown across the
stream, which, though damaged when that capital was
taken by the Ghori kings, still suffices for the irrigation
of the adjoining fields. Two lofty minarets, upwards
of 100 feet high, mark the spot where stood the cele-
brated mosque impiously called "The Celestial Bride;"
but a few mounds of rubbish and masses of ruins are
all that remain of the splendid baths, the caravansaries,
the colleges and noble dwellings that once adorned the
capital of the East. The present town, which is built
upon a height, consists of 1,500 houses, surrounded by
stone walls, including three mean bazaars, and a cov-
ered charsu or square in the centre.
Cabul, the capital of the kingsom, is enclosed on
three sides by low hills, along the top of which runs a
decayed wall. There is an opening towards the east,
bounded by a rampart, where the principal road enters
a gate, after passing a bridge over the river. The fort
or castle of Bala Hissar, which stands on a height
northward of this entrance, is a kind of citadel con-
taining the king's palace, in which are several halls
distinguished by the royal ornament of a gilt cupola.
There is an upper fortress, used as a state-prison for
princes of the blood. In the centre of the city is an
open square, whence issue four bazaars, each two
stoiies high, and arched over at top. Most of the
buildings of Cabul are of wood, — a material recom-
mended by its power of resisting earthquakes, with
382 Persia, the Land of the Magi
which this place is visited. Though not an extensive,
it is a compact and handsome town. Being surrounded
by gardens and orchards, watered by fine streams, the
beauty and abundance of its flowers are proverbial;
its fruits are in estimation far and near ; and its climate
and scenery are considered as unrivaled in the East.
One of the most pleasing as well as interesting spots is
the tomb of the celebrated Baber, the founder of the
Mogul empire in India. It is situated at the top of an
eminence near the city, among beds of anemones and
other flowers, commanding a magnificent prospect,
which that great and kind-hearted monarch used often
to enjoy when passing his hours of leisure with his
gallant companions, on the spot where his remains
now lie interred.
Peshawer, the second city in point of population,
stands in a fine plain, but upon an irregular surface.
It is five miles round, and when visited by Mr. Elphin-
stone might contain about 100,000 inhabitants. The
houses were built of brick, generally unburnt, in
wooden frames, and commonly three stories h'gh.
The streets were paved, but narrow and inconvenient.
Two or three brooks ran through the town, and were
even there skirted with willows and mulberry trees.
The streets and bazaars were crowded with men of all
nations and languages, and the shops filled with all
sorts of goods; but at that time the city was the resi-
dence of the court, and had consequently all the bustle
and glitter attendant upon such a presence.
We now proceed to give a short account of the
kingdom of Cabul, as it existed under the Dooranee
dynasty. It is unnecessary for our purpose to describe
the struggles of that people and the Ghiljees for power
Account of Afghanistan 383
previous to the reign of Nadir Shah. On the day
of confusion which succeeded the murder of this
monarch in June, 1747, a battle took place between the
several bodies of troops, in which Ahmed Khan Abdallee
headed the Afghans and Uzbecks against the Persians.
But the conflict terminated without a decisive result;
and Ahmed, fighting his way through Khorasan,
reached Candahar with not more than three thousand
horse. A treasure coming from India for Nadir,
which had been seized by the inhabitants of that
place, fell into his hands after some opposition; and
Ahmed, at the age of twenty-three, assumed the
ensigns of royalty at Candahar, in the month of Octo-
ber, 1747, — the Dooranee, Kuzzilbash, Belooche, and
Hazara chiefs assisting at his coronation.
Possessed of a genius well calculated for commands,
and a prudence and decision beyond his years, the
young shah commenced his reign by the wise measure
of conciliating his own tribe; after which he gradually
gained an ascendency over the others, — a difficult and
delicate task, in which he succeeded partly by a show
of moderation, and partly by firmness, and occasional
coercion, to which the strength of his party among the
Dooranees enabled him to have recourse. But the
most effectual means he used for consolidating the
disordant mass of the Afghan tribes was foreign con-
quest; thereby at once giving employment to their
military genius, and satisfying their love of plunder.
The feebleness of the Uzbeck and Indian empires
had been exposed and increased by their contests with
Nadir, and Persia was already distracted by the dis-
sensions which had broken out in the family of her late
sovereign. India, at once rich and weak, was the
384 Persia, the Land of the Magi
most attractive point to commence with, and against
it, accordingly, did Ahmed Shah first direct his atten-
tion and his arms.
His conquests there, having been already described
in another part of this work, do not require any fur-
ther mention. Suffice it to say, that they confirmed
his power; and the monarchy thus established, which
extended from Nishapour to Sirhind of the Punjaub,
from the Oxus to the sea, was fashioned on the model
of that of Persia.
It was natural that the follower of a successful sov-
ereign should avail himself of his master's experience;
and accordingly we find that in the general adminis-
tration of government, and even in the arrangement
of the household, and distribution of the offices of
state,10 the example supplied by Nadir was closely
imitated, modified only in such points as might suit
the peculiarities of the Afghan nation. We shall
therefore omit all details on this subject, and the
rather, because subsequent events have so deranged
the whole system as virtually to have annihilated it
for the present altogether.
Ahmed Shah died11 at Murgha, in the Atchikzehee
country, in June, 1773, in the fiftieth year of his age,
and twenty-sixth of his government. He was suc-
ceeded by his son, Timur Shah, a prince who from his
natural indolence, was ill qualified to maintain the
fabric of power which his father had raised, or to rule
with efficiency so turbulent a nation as the Afghans.
10 These were very numerous, and each was distinguished by a rich and
peculiar dress, which, together with the brilliant display of armor and jewels,
particularly about the sovereign's person, threw an air of great splendor over
the Dooranee court.
11 Of a cancer in his face.
Account of Afghanistan 385
After a reign of twenty years, marked chiefly by
rebellions and conspiracies, during the weakness of
the crown gradually increased, he <4ied at Cabul in
1793 without naming an heir, — an omission of little
moment, as a faction, headed by his favorite queen
and supported by the principal chiefs, placed Shah
Zeman upon the throne, and kept him there in spite of
all the other princes of the blood.
The fortunes of this prince, who was deficient
neither in abilities nor courage, were blasted by an
ill-directed ambition, and a mistaken policy, arising
from the evil counsels of a haughty, but timid and avari
cious minister. While he should have busied himself
in consolidating his power at home, and securing the
possession of Khorasan, he wasted his time in foolish
invasions of India; and, instead of endeavoring to
secure the good- will of his own tribe, he disgusted
them by neglect, want of confidence, ill-judged paris-
mony, and finally by downright cruelty. A reign of
seven years, which at first gave the fairest promise of
success, was thus spent in bootless enterprises, and
embittered by a series of domestic rebellions and dark
conspiracies, which at length ended in his ruin. After
terrifying the feeble princes of Hindostan, and alarm-
ing even the rising power of Britain,12 which sent an
army to Anoopsheher to check the progress of the
Dooranee monarch in his threatened attack upon their
ally the Nabob Vizier of Oude, Shah Zeman was forced
by disturbances at home to withdraw from the country,
12 It was with the view of causing a division on the side of Persia, and thus
relieving the apprehensions entertained for our Indian dominions that the
first embassy under Sir John, then Captain Malcolm, was sent to Persia.
386 Persia, the Land of the Magi
and fell a victim to the ambition of a brother and the
revenge of an injured statesman.
A serious conspiracy, in which some of the most
powerful nobles of the realm were implicated, was dis-
covered by an accomplice, and the whole of those
engaged in it were seized and mercilessly put to death.
Futeh Khan, the son of Sirafrauz Khan, one of these
leaders, and chief of the Baurikzehee clan of Door-
anees, — a man of great talents and little principle, —
fled to Mahmoud, another of the princes of the blood-
royal, and Zeman's most formidable competitor for
the throne. Encouraged by his support, and strength-
ened by his genius, the insurgents increased so rapidly
that they were able not only to oppose the shah, but
finally to gain over his troops, and force him to fly.
Betrayed by a mollah in whom he had confided, the
unfortunate monarch was seized, and by having his
eyes put out with a lancet, was rendered incapable of
checking the career of his inhuman relative, or the
schemes of his ambitious minister.
But the reign of the usurper was destined to be
neither prosperous nor lasting; his indolent, timid,
and unprincipled character was ill calculated to uphold
an unjust cause. Sujah ul Mulk, the full brother of
the unfortunate Zeman, who had been left at Peshawer
in charge of the royal family and treasury, imme-
diately, on hearing of the recent events, proclaimed him-
self king; and, although frequently defeated, he at
length, taking advantage of the absence of Futeh
Khan the vizier, and of a religious prejudice against
Mahmoud, succeeded in overpowering all opposition,
and in seizing that prince in his palace at Cabul
With a generosity unknown in these fierce struggles
Account of Afghanistan 387
he spared the eyes of his fallen kinsman, — an act of
lenity which afterward caused his own ruin.
Sujah ul Mulk, now king of Cabul, found his reward
in a very disturbed and short-lived success. Futch
Khan made his submission to him; but his moderate
demands were imprudently rejected, and he retired in
disgust to his castle of Geereesh, where he employed
himself in intrigues against a prince who, as he con-
ceived, had both injured and insulted him. Rebellions
were fomented, disaffection encouraged, and at length,
in an attempt of the discontented vizier to raise another
prince to the throne, Mahmoud escaped, and suc-
ceeded in joining his wily friend Futeh. The event
was productive of the most disastrous consequences.
A year afterward, the mission to Cabul, under Mr.
Elphinstone, found the king still in possession of the
throne. But before they quitted the country his for-
tune had yielded to the influence of his rival; and,
after a succession of reverses, the ill-fated Sujah was
forced to seek protection with Runjeet Sing, chief of
the Seiks. Disappointed in not meeting with the sym-
pathy or assistance he hoped for, and inhospitably
plundered13 by that ruler, the exiled monarch once
more took to flight, and threw himself upon the gener-
osity of the British government, who afforded him an
asylum at Loodheana.
In the meantime Mahmoud, though nominally king,
was nothing more than a pageant in the hands of the
ambitious Futeh Khan, who. conferred upon the mem-
18 The unfortunate king in his flight had managed to carry off several
valuable jewels, and among others the celebrated diamond known by the
name of "Koh e Noor," or "Hill of Light," described by Tavernier. But
the ruler of the Seiks having learned this fact, never ceased to persecute his
fallen guest till he consented to sell him this invaluable gem at a nominal
price.
388 Persia, the Land of the Magi
bers of his own family the principal offices of state
and governments of the realm. But the country was
disturbed by constant rebellions; and the Seiks not
only made rapid progress in the Punjaub, but suc-
ceeded in getting possession of the celebrated valley
of Cashmere, which had been one of the Afghan acquisi-
tions. Endeavoring to compensate by conquests
in the west for their losses in the east, Futeh pro-
ceeded to reduce Herat; and, by treachery as it is
alleged, he made himself master of that city and of
the person of Ferose Mirza, another son of the late
Timur Shah, who had been residing there in retire-
ment, paying to Persia a trifling tribute as the price
of exemption from molestation. An intrigue with a
discontented chief14 of Khorasan was at length the
cause of this able but unprincipled minister's down-
fall. Seduced by his representations and promises of
assistance, he attempted to carry the Dooranee arms
further into Khorasan; but, being worsted in an
action with the prince-governor of Mushed and thrown
from his horse, it was not without difficulty that he
regained Herat. There, by some singular oversight,
he fell into the power of Prince Camran, the son of
Mahmoud, who, cruel and overbearing himself, and
long since disgusted with the arrogance of the min-
ister's demeanor, reproached him with his unauthor-
ized enterprise and signal failure, and directed his
eyes to be instantly put out, — an order which was
executed upon the spot.
This inhuman act of revenge soon brought its own
punishment. The brothers and relatives of the unfor-
4 Mohammed Khan Caraooee, chief of Toorbut.
Account of Afghanistan 389
tunate vizier fled each to his own stronghold, where
they immediately busied themselves in taking precau-
tions for their safety, — strengthening their respective
parties, and exciting rebellions against the king and
his son. Shah Mahmoud and Camran, on the other
hand, carrying the blind Futeh Khan along with them,
sought to allay these disturbances; and endeavored to
compel their unfortunate prisoner to use his influence
with his kindred to desist from their treasonable
attempts and return to their allegiance. But he
steadily and indignantly rejected all their persuasions.
"The eyes," said he, "which lighted you to a throne,
and maintained you here, are now sightless; — with-
out them I am useless, and you are weak. Your
barbarous imprudence has deprived you of your only
sure guide, and, sooner or later, fall you must and
wall." Exasperated at his determined resistance, they
directed the miserable man to be tortured, and after-
ward put him to death, as has been averred, with their
own hands.
The prophecy thus uttered was very soon fulfilled.
Mahmoud and Camran were rapidly deprived of all
their dominions, which, indeed, they did not dare to
re-enter. Herat and its dependencies alone remained,
and there they resided, paying to the crown of Persia
the same tribute which had been formerly exacted
from Ferose Mirza. The kingdom has since been
rent into a multitude of petty factions, headed by the
brother of the murdered vizier, or other great lords
of the country, some of whom, in order to cloak their
own ambitious designs, set up a pageant of the royal
family, taken from the state-prison of Bala-Hissar.
390 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Several of the remaining princes have, however, fled
for refuge to Mushed in Khorasan, where they subsist
upon the precarious hospitality of the government of
that place; and, whatever other power may hereafter
rule in Afghanistan, no doubt can be entertained that
the glory of the house of Suddoozehee has set forever.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Nestorians and Missions.
[A description of Persia would be incomplete without a notice of the
Nestorians and other Christian missions and their work.]
NESTORIUS, a Greek by nationality, and a cele-
brated theologian of the fifth century, was born
in the fourth century near Germanicia, a city in north-
ern Syria. He was a very able, scholarly man, and an
orator of power. He was ordained an elder by the
patriarch of Antioch in the Catholic Church. In 428
he became patriarch of Constantinople.
Nestorius taught that Christ had two natures, that
is, perfect God and perfect man, and united but not
mingled. God was the (spiritual) divine Father and
Mary was the human mother. He also rejected statues
and pictures representing Christ, saints, or Mary. In
431 in the council of Ephesus, he was anathematized
upon the above basis. Then Nestorius united with
the Eastern Christian Church whose doctrines agreed
with his own, after which the enemies of Nestorius
called the sect Nestorians. The true origin of the
Nestorians was in the old Assyrian nation. The
Assyrians were descendants of Araphaxad, the third
son of Shem. Their original home was in or close to
the cradle of mankind in Mesopotamia, Assyria and
Syria. Their empire extended nearly to Nineveh and
Babylon. Then the great empire of Assyria was estab-
lished.
Their first missionaries were St. Bartholomew and
St. Thomas from the twelve apostles, and St. Maree
and St. Edde from the seventy. Their first patriarch
(391)
392 Persia, the Land of the Magi
was St. Maree, who resided in Ktispon, the capital of
the Sassanites' dynasty, on the river Tigris. St. Maree
died A. D. 82. After his death, Abriz, of Jerusalem,
was chosen to take his place. He served from A. D.
90 to 107. After Abriz, Abraham, a relative of the
Apostle James, became their patriarch from A. D. 130
to 132. Abraham's successor was James, a just man,
and a relative of the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ.
And in the changes, the Assyrian Christians have
always kept in office a succession of patriarchs, even
to the present time. The residence of their first patri-
arch was in Ktispon, and from that time in various
places as Babel, Nineveh, Mosoel, Baghdad, and for a
long time at Elkosh, the home of the prophet Nahum.
The present patriarch resides in the village of Kud-
shanoos, in the Kurdistan mountains. His home is
located on a hill and is surrounded by much beautiful
scenery. The name of the patriarch is Marshiman.
The church in which he administers is called St. Ruben,
a building made of granite.
There are seven orders in the clergy: Patriarch,
metropolitan, episcopus, archdeacon, elder, deacon and
reader. The first three do not marry and do not eat
meat, but fish, butter and eggs can be used. In older
times, at the ordination of a patriarch, the presence of
twelve metropolitans was required, but to-day they
require only four and a few episcopi. The patriarch
ordains the metropolitans and episcopi and these
ordain the lower clergy. The duty of the patriarch is
to overlook the entire church, and much of his time is
also taken up in sending messages to the Turkish gov-
ernment and to Kurdish priests, about wrongs that
have been committed against his people. The patri-
The Nestorians and Missions 393
arch is highly respected and his messages receive
prompt attention. His income consists of five to
twenty cents from all the men who belong to his sect.
As it is described in some manuscripts about 500
years old, their faith was entirely evangelical. They
believe in the Trinity : God, the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit; three persons, equal in power and nature, work-
ing together for the salvation of mankind. They
accept the creed of the Apostles and it is recited by the
clergy and religious men and women. They believe
in the merit of saints. Their clergy do not claim
the power to forgive sins. They observe many days
of fasting, as 25 days before Christmas, 50 days before
Easter, and others. In times of persecution their
schools and books were destroyed and the people became
ignorant. Then the Roman Catholics introduced
among them their literature which has changed much
of the prevailing doctrines.
Some of their churches are built of stone, while
others are made of brick and clay. Many of the build-
ings are from 1,200 to 1,300 years old and will stand
for many years to come. They have very thick walls
at the base but gradually taper towards the top. Their
doors are quite low and a man must stoop in entering.
These churches are called the houses of God. In the
rear of each church there is a small room which is
called the Holy of Holies. Nobody is allowed to enter
into this place but the minister. In front of this room
is a small pulpit on which are placed a Bible, cross and
other ceremonial books.
The main features of worship are reading of Scrip-
ture, chanting Psalms, and prayer book. There are
no seats in the room, so the audience sits on the floor
394 Persia, the Land of the Magi
or stands throughout the service. Nestorians believe
that baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two chief
ordinances. The Lord's Supper is served on festival
days, such as Christmas, Easter, and Ascension days.
They do not believe with the Roman Catholics that the
bread and wine become the flesh and blood of Christ,
but they put much emphasis on these emblems after
they have been consecrated ; they are then holy. Bap-
tism is administered by elders and bishops and is
administered on children by immersing three times in
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Assyrians had twenty-five schools; the higher
colleges were located at Nesibis, Odessa, and Urhai.
These colleges were the strength of the church, and
"these schools were fountains from which flowed living
waters for a thirsty land." All the monks of this
church were educated in these schools, and by studying
their history we will see how great was their zeal for
the spread of the gospel. The text from which they
preached, was "The love of Christ for sinners, and
His last commission," Matt. 28: 19, 20. Some of their
missionaries went to India, Persia, Tataristan, Bloogis-
tan, Afghanistan, China and North Africa. They
established twenty-five churches in Persia, and a
small church in India. They converted 200,000 hea-
then in the territory that lies between China and
Tataristan. Not long ago in one of their churches in
China was found a monument which had been set by
one of their pioneers of the cross about 700 years ago.
On it were engraved the creed, doctrine of the Trinity,
incarnation of Christ, and the names of many of their
leaders.
"The ancient church of the Assyrians, which began
The Ncstorians and Missions 395
with the Apostles, has been praised in all the eastern
and western churches for its zeal in spreading the
gospel, but at no time in history has it been free from
persecution. Like the burning bush of old, this church
has been burning with persecution, but has not been
consumed. The ten plagues of Egypt have been here
several times. It has passed through the agony of
blood, but with a spirit of submission to the will of
God who rules over all the changes of a nation for
the good of his own kingdom." Severe persecutions
began in A. D. 325; in the fourteenth century by
Tamerlane. In 1848 25,000 Assyrians were massacred
in one month by Kurdish dukes, and in 1897 a bishop,
two elders and ten men were killed as martyrs. No
doubt to-day hundreds of martyrs from this nation are
before the altar of God singing praises for the testi-
mony which they held. All the colleges of the Nes-
torians were destroyed in the fourteenth century by
Tamerlane. From that time they have not had a
single school. After their books had been burned by
the Mohammedans, in order to keep them ignorant,
the learned monks and bishops, who were full of
the spirit of Christ, in spreading the gospel, at home
and abroad, all vanished. The only effort toward
education is by monks teaching dead languages to
aspirants to the priesthood. Now all the clergy in
this church cannot understand what they read, because
they are blind to the Word of God. The cloud of
ignorance is spread over the nation. Their sun is gone
down, as conversion and regeneration are unknown
to them. In this ignorance they put more hope in
the merit of the past than in Christ. There are a
few New Testament manuscripts left among them,
396 Persia, the Land of the Magi
written in dead languages. These testaments are
now used in taking oaths. I have seen, with my
own eyes, how the laymen kneel and kiss them instead
of obeying the truth that is taught in them. The
Assyrians have lost all their Christianity except its
name. Among 80,000 in Kurdistan and 50,000 in
Persia, there are only five men and women who can
read. The words of the daughter-in-law of Eli, when
she said: "The glory is departed from Israel," could
have been applied to this people. As to the missions
and their work, France, America, England and Russia
are all represented in the cause, and some work is
done by Swedes and Germans in the villages of the
Urumiah plain, but they have liberty in doing mis-
sionary work only among the subjects of the king
who are not Mohammedans. The Roman Catholic
work began among the Armenians in the sixteenth
century, and in the eighteenth century among the
Nestorian Christians. The Protestant Mission was
started in 1747, among the Gulbors (commonly called
Fire Worshipers). Henry Martyn was the pioneer
of this century. He left as his legacy the Persian
version of the New Testament.
In 1835 a permanent Protestant Mission was estab-
lished by the Rev. Justin Perkins and Asahel Grant,
M.D., in Urmia, by the American Board. It was
called the Mission of the Nestorians. From time to
time other workers came, such as Messrs. Stoddard,
Starkings, Dr. Coan and Mr. Ray. Other workers
who should be mentioned are Dr. Larabee, Rev. Shedd,
Dr. Cochran and Dr. Wishard.
In 1871 Teheran was occupied; Tabriz in 1873; Ham-
adan in 1881. The Episcopal Church of England began
The Nestorians and Missions 397
work here in 1890 and the Greek Church of Russia in
1896. Each has a station in Urmia. Their work is for
the Nestorians. The Church Missionary Society has
stations at Ispahan, Yezd, Kerman, and Shiraz. In
addition to these there are several personal workers.
One of these was Rev. Knanishu Moratkhan, my
sister's father-in-law. His work now is in charge
of Rev. Joseph Knanishu, my brother-in-law. Rev.
Wilson says: "Whatever may be the purpose of
these missions, it is evident that the restrictions of
government have largely hindered all of them from
evangelizing Mohammedans. This law grows out of
the teaching of Mohammed. The Koran forbids
Christians to preach to Islams. Christians dare not
discuss questions of religion and teach. Any Moham-
medan who denounces the faith deserves death, and
that one who kills the deserter has done a noble deed."
Some of the converts have suffered martyrdom, and
one who was killed after a great torture, prayed as
his last words: "O Jesus, we thank Thee that Thou
hast made us worthy to be Thy martyrs. Our sup-
plication is that our blood may become as seed to
Thy church." The name of Mirza Ibrahim will
never be forgotten as a martyr for Christ. He was a
convert from Islam, was baptized in Khoi and driven
out by his family. He was arrested in Urmia while
telling others of his new-found faith. When brought
before the Suparast and governor he boldly confessed
Christ, and maintained the truth of the gospel. He
was beaten, threatened and imprisoned. He was
offered money if he would forsake his faith. Finally
he was taken to Tabriz under guard and imprisoned,
and his appeals to the Shah (king) for release were
398 Persia, the Land of the Magi
vain. After suffering the horrors of a Persian prison
for almost a year, he was choked to death by his fel-
low prisoners, by and with the connivance of the
authorities. A number of criminals, one after another,
took him by the throat, saying, "Declare the Ali is
true and Jesus false." He answered, "No, Jesus is
true. Jesus is true, though you slay me." After his
martyrdom the Grand Vizier observed: "Our law is
that the perverter shall be put to death ; it was a mis-
take to imprison him. He should have been executed
immediately." These are only a few of the facts that
have hindered mission work in Persia and made it
very slow.
The following narrative is a pleasing illustration of
the faithfulness of God, who will not let his devoted
servants "labor in vain," or "spend their strength for
naught." The Rev. Henry Martyn was not permitted,
while in the flesh, to see the effects of his holy example
and of his bold confession of the Saviour whom he
loved, in a land where that blessed name was despised;
yet, doubtless, in the great day which will make all
things manifest, there will be many who will be his
crown of rejoicing. This account is taken from the
Asiatic Journal, and was written by a person who
spent a few weeks at Shiraz, in Persia.
Having received an invitation to dine (or rather
sup) with a Persian party in the city, I went and
found a number of guests assembled. The conversa-
tion was varied — grave and gay; chiefly of the latter
complexion. Poetry was often the subject; sometimes
philosophy, and sometimes politics prevailed. Among
the topics discussed religion was one. There are
so many sects in Persia, especially if we include the
The Nestorians and Missions 399
free-thinking classes, that the questions which grow
out of such a discussion constitute no trifling resource
for conversation. I was called upon, though with
perfect good-breeding and politeness, to give an account
of the tenets of our faith; and I confess myself to
have been sometimes embarrassed by the pointed
queries of my companions. Among the guests was a
person who took but little part in the conversation,
and who appeared to be intimate with none but the
master of the house. He was a man below the middle
age, of a serious countenance and mild deporcment;
they called him Mahomed Rahem. I thought that he
frequently observed me with great attention, and
watched every word I uttered, especially when the
subject of religion was under discussion. Once when
I expressed myself with some levity, this individual
fixed his eyes upon me with such peculiar expression
of surprise, regret, and reproof, that I was struck
to the very soul, and felt a strange mysterious wonder
who this person could be. I asked privately one of
the party, who told me that he had been educated for
a mollah, but had never officiated; and that he was a
man of considerable learning, and much respected;
but lived retired, and seldom visited even his most
intimate friends. My informant added, that his only
inducement to join the party had been the expectation
of meeting an Englishman; as he was much attached
to the English nation, and had studied our language
and learning.
This information increased my curiosity, which I
determined to seek an opportunity of gratifying, by
conversing with him. A few days afterwards I called
upon Mahomed Rahem, and found him reading a
400 Persia, the Land of the Magi
volume of Cowper's poems! This circumstance led
to a discussion of the merits of English poetry and
European literature in general. I was astonished at
the clear and accurate conceptions which he had
formed upon these subjects, and at the precision with
which he expressed himself in English. We dis-
coursed on these and kindred topics for nearly two
hours; till, at length, I ventured to sound his opinions
on the subject of religion.
"You are a mollah, I am informed."
"No," said he, "I was educated at a madrussa (col-
lege), but I have never felt an inclination to be one of
the priesthood."
"The exposition of your religious volume," I rejoined,
"demands a pretty close application to study; before
a person can be qualified to teach the doctrines of the
Koran, I understand, he must thoroughly examine
and digest volumes of comments, which ascertain
the sense of the text and the application of its injunc-
tions. This is a laborious preparation, if a man be
disposed conscientiously to fulfil his important duties."
As he made no remark, I continued: "Our Scrip-
tures are their own expositors.1 We are solicitous
only that they should be read; and although some
particular passages are not without difficulties, aris-
ing from the inherent obscurity of language, the faults
of translation, or the errors of copyists; yet it is our
boast that the authority of our Holy Scriptures is
confirmed by the clearness and simplicity of their
style, as well as precepts."
I was surprised that he made no reply to these obser-
vations. At the hazard of being deemed importunate,
» Is not the Holy Spirit who gave them forth the real expositor?
The Nestorians and Missions 401
I proceeded to euolgize the leading principles of Chris-
tianity, more particularly in respect to their moral
and practical character; and happened, among other
reflections, to suggest that, as no other concern was
of so much importance to the human race as religion,
and as only one faith could be the right, the subject
admitted not of being regarded as indifferent, though
too many did so regard it."
"Do not you esteem it so?" he asked.
"Certainly not," I replied.
"Then your indifference at the table of our friend,
Meerza Reeza, when the topic of religion was under
consideration, was merley assumed, out of complais-
ance to Mussulmans, I presume?"
I remembered the occasion to which he alluded;
and recognized in his countenance the same expres-
sion, compounded half of pity, half of surprise, which
it then exhibited. I owned that I had acted incon-
sistently; but I made the best defence I could, and
disavowed, in the most solemn manner, any design to
contemn the religion which I profess.
"I am heartily glad I was deceived," he said; "for
sincerity in religion is our paramount duty. What
we are we should never be ashamed of appearing to
be."
"Are you a sincere Mussulman, then?" I boldly
asked.
An internal struggle seemed, for an instant, to agi-
tate his visage; at length he answered mildly, "No."
"You are not a sceptic or free-thinker?"
"No, indeed I am not.
"What are you, then? Be you sincere. Are you a
Christian?"
402 Persia, the Land of the Magi
"I am," he replied.
I should vainly endeavor to describe the astonish-
ment which seized me at this declaration. I surveyed
Mahomed Rahem, at first with a look which, judging
from its reflection from his benign countenance, must
have betokened suspicion, or even contempt. The
consideration that he could have no motive to deceive
me in this disclosure, which was of infinitely greater
importance to himself than to me, speedily restored
me to recollection, and banished every sentiment but
joy. I could not refrain from pressing silently his
hand to my heart.
He was not unmoved at this transport, but he
betrayed no unmanly emotions. He told me that I had
possessed myself of a secret, which, in spite of his
opinion that it was the duty of every one to wear his
religion openly, he had hitherto concealed, except
from a few who participated in his own sentiments.
"And whence came this happy change?" I asked.
"I will tell you chat likewise," he replied. "In the
year 1233 (of the Hejira) there came to this city an
Englishman, who taught the religion of Christ with
a boldness hitherto unparalleled in Persia, in the midst
of much scorn and ill-treatment from our mollahs as
well as the rabble. He was a beardless youth, and
evidently enfeebled by disease. He dwelt among us
for more than a year. I was then a decided enemy
to infidels, as the Christians are termed by the follow-
ers of Mohammed; and I visited the teacher of the
despised sect, with the declared object of treating him
with scorn and exposing his doctrines to contempt.
Although I persevered for some time in this behavior
towards him, I found that every interview not only
The Nestorians and Missions 403
increased my respect for the individual, but dimin-
ished my confidence in the faith in which I was edu-
cated. His extreme forbearance towards the violence
of his opponents, the calm and yet convincing manner
in which he exposed the fallacies and sophistries by
which he was assailed, for he spoke Persian excellently,
gradually inclined me to listen to his arguments,
to inquire candidly into the subject of them, and
finally to read a tract which he had written in reply
to a defence of Islamism by our chief mollahs. Need
I detain you longer? The result of my examination
was a convinction that the young disputant was right.
Shame, or rather fear, withheld me from this opinion.
I even avoided the society of the Christian teacher,
though he remained in the city so long. Just before
he quitted Shiraz, I could not refrain from paying
him a farewell visit. Our conversation — the memory
of it will never fade from the tablet of my mind —
sealed my conversion. He gave me a book — it has
ever been my constant companion — the study of it
has formed my most delightful occupation — its con-
tents have often consoled me."
Upon this he put into my hand a copy of the New
Testament, in Persian. On one of the blank leaves
was written, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth. Henry Martyn."
"The restless millions wait
That light whose dawning maketh all things near.
Christ also waits, but men are slow and late.
Have we done what we could? Have I? Have you?
A cloud of witnesses above encompass us.
We love to think of all they see and know.
404 Persia, the Land of the Magi
But what of this great multitude in peril,
Who sadly wait below?
Oh ! let this thrilling vision daily move us
To earnest prayers and deeds unknown,
That souls redeemed from many lands may join us
When Christ brings home His own."
CHAPTER XIX.
Great Commission and Medical Mission.
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end
of the world. Amen."— Malt. 28 : 19, 20.
A FTER our Lord and Master had conquered death,
i\ the last enemy of the human race, and implanted
the hope of resurrection in the hearts of His disciples,
completed His great work of redemption, and was
ready to return to His heavenly home, He spoke these
words, or gave this great commission to His disciples,
to carry the message of salvation to the whole world,
so that a new and heavenly power might be introduced
into humanity.
A new spiritual kingdom might be established in
the world, and a new day might dawn upon all those
that are sitting in darkness and under shadow of
death; hence this commission of preaching the Gospel
is absolutely necessary, for it is the direction of the
Spirit of Christ.
Christ Himself qualifies His servants for it, calls
them to it. The Holy Spirit directs them and suc-
ceeds them in it. With pleasure and courage they
met trials and tribulations, even death; martyr death
is to them crown of eternal life and eternal glory.
Everywhere they go they never fail from doing good
while the world despises and hates them, but instead
(405)
406 Persia, the Land of the Magi
of this, they show love and kindness towards those
that persecute and hate them, because God has so
loved the world that He let His Son die for it.
Though all powers and principalities of this dark
world may rise against the church and the disciples
of Christ, yet their weapons will not prosper against it,
for under the influence of the Holy Ghost the Word
shall the more spread and be glorified among alt nations
and tribes that are dwelling under the sun. Because
salvation that Christ brought is for all, and His com-
mand is to go preach My Gospel to every creature.
This commission of preaching everlasting Gospel
of Salvation is very important and great, because it is
not a message or gift of a mere human, but it is a mes-
sage or a gift of God, who through His infinite mercy
has sent it to mankind, therefore there is nothing in the
world so great, so precious and everlasting that a
human being can communicate to his fellow men as
the tidings of the Gospel of Christ, because this
Gospel embodies all privileges — freedom, peace, pros-
perity, civilization, temporal and eternal happiness of
every creature on earth.
We Christians who believe in the Gospel of Christ
must let nothing enter into our hearts and take higher
place than Christ and His love, no pleasures and riches
of this world, which are all corruptible; we must sacri-
fice them all under His feet, which were pierced for
our sins and for our salvation.
He has shown to us sinners infinitely greater love
than our own parents and friends; we must leave all
and follow Him. If we follow Him, He will take us
to a place where our parents, our friends or the whole
world£can not take. He alone has and can give us
Great Commission and Medical Mission 407
everlasting life and kingdom, to live and rule with Him
for ever and ever. His Gospel is true and the only
rule of life; what is said against it is false and blas-
phemy against that God, Merciful Father, who sent
His only begotten Son to save us from sin and second
death, to sanctify and make us holy as He is Himself
holy, and to make us heirs of the kingdom of heaven
and eternal life.
The everlasting God of Love, who made four rivers
for watering the Garden of Eden, and has also given us
four gospels in which the water of life is found —
from which gospels the water of life will flow until
this whole and thirsty world is watered, made it a
paradise until the tabernacle of God be with men and
He dwell among them and be their God.
To follow Christ and proclaim His blessed Gospel
ought to be the highest joy of every believer in Him.
He laid aside insignia of His exalted station, came
down and became like us in everything, but without
sin. He spared not His own life, but made it a sacri-
fice for our life. He has left a great example and given
command that we should follow His footsteps and
proclaim His Gospel to all people, to instruct them
in the things of God, to hold fellowship with Him
in every ordinance and obey Him in every command,
and to depend on Him in every circumstance for His
promised presence and assistance.
The command and the promise are : Go, preach My
Gospel to all the world, "lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world." Through this command
and precious promise, we shall be a happy instrument in
the hands of God to convert many from their iniquities
and false opinions to the true God and the Saviour, and
408 Persia, the Land of the Magi
by His plentiful endowment with the Holy Spirit
we shall become His true and faithful disciples, and
shall be the means of reconciling many to God, and
make many sinners wise unto salvation ; by conviction
of sin prepare them to receive the divine salvation of
our dear Lord and Saviour. During His early life He
has wonderfully exerted His power in helping, and
showing great mercy to all people in teaching them to
cast down self-righteousness and self-sufficient sin-
ners. He has shown great mercy and honors to the
poor and debased, and enriched them with favors in
healing their diseases and forgiving their sins, and
then He commanded His disciples to go about and do
the same — that is to go, preach His Gospel of love,
power and grace to redeem sinners from sin, Satan
and the world.
It may happen that an earthly monarch may leave
his exalted station and go to the degraded corners of
his dominion and do acts of kindness to his rebellious
subjects and command his servants to devote their
entire life to such acts of charity, but these acts are all
human and will extend as far as this present life goes,
but no farther.
But, contrary to this, what Christ did and is still
doing, and what He commanded His disciples to do,
will extend not only for the present life, but also for
the life which is to come. He is our life, He is the
life of the world. He has given life for our present
existence; if we obey His command, believe His prom-
ises, He will give us eternal life and happiness. St.
John says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Need 409
This is true, those that have the Son have life; those
that have not the Son have no life, but the wrath of
God abides upon them.
A disciple of the Lord must not look ahead upon
tribulations, trials and dangers that he will meet, but
obey the commands and believe the promise, "Lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,"
that is to say, I will make all things easy for you, will
not forsake you; therefore, go "preach My Gospel
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you."
NEED.
There are about 15,000,000 people in Persia, rep-
resenting many religions, sects and races; but they
are native Persians. The Mohammedan religion pre-
dominates and is divided into many sects; Fire Wor-
ship is the oldest religious faith; but the Nestorians
and the Gregorians have a large following. All the
religions of Persia, excepting Mohammedanism, are
monogamistic as to marriage.
All Orientals are very religious and bigoted in their
faith. The character of medical and hospital work
therefore that will succeed with the least hindrance is
that based on purely scientific and humanitarian prin-
ciples. It should be open to the followers of every
religious faith and project its work on this high plain.
The condition of the peoples of Persia, outside of
their religions, from a physician's viewpoint, beggars
description. The physical man of Persia must first be
saved; for on this foundation the mental, moral and
410 Persia, the Land of the Magi
religious man must be built. Mens sana in corpore
sano is yet to be realized in Persia.
Elliot Crawshay Williams, in his most excellent
book, "Across Persia," pages 9 and 10, gives the fol-
lowing sad picture and also suggests the only remedy :
"At every corner there is some terrible sight; a man
holding up the withered stump of an arm; a deformed
child; a woman whose sightless eyes peer into yours;
almost every other man or woman you meet has some-
thing amiss ; a contorted face ; a dead-looking open eye
which glares blindly out ; a sunken temple ; a network
of pitted scars. Disease, uncontrolled by science, runs
riot like some luxurious tropical growth. . . .
The doctor is the greatest, the best, the most respected
of missionaries, and rightly so. He heals men's bodies
that chiefly require healing at the present moment.
Sanitary conditions, knowledge of remedies and of the
methods of disease prevention, a better and more
healthful way of life: these are the first steps toward
the regeneration of Oriental peoples."
S. G. W. Benjamin, ex-minister of the United States
to Persia, in his book "Persia and the Persians," page
364, says: "It must be admitted that the most impor-
tant factor now at work in the missionary field of
Persia, is one that is largely secular. I refer to the
employment of missionary physicians. Persons who
do not care to be instructed in the tenets of a faith
other than their own, are still in need of physical aid;
all may not be in spiritual need, but all sooner or later
require a physician. . . . Fletcher of Saltoun
said : ' Give me the songmakers of a country, and you
may have the lawgivers.' I would modify this in an
Oriental country and say, 'Give me the physicians.'
Need 411
If the physician be also a missionary, and withal a
shrewd man, there is scarce a limit to the influence he
can obtain."
The diseases which prevail in Persia are the ordi-
nary diseases of the United States. There are certain
diseases more prevalent and aggravated, viz., small-
pox, diphtheria, cholera, all forms of eye troubles,
tuberculosis; thousands of deaths occur from child-
birth unattended, tumors, cancers, the ordinary fevers
in a more malignant form, nervous and mental ail-
ments, etc.
As to the method of treatment of these diseases, it
must be remembered that the home treatment is quite
out of the question. That most beneficent form of med-
ical service rendered in the home by the "family
physician" would be of little value in Persia. This
is on account of the ignorance of the people as to
the caring for the sick, as to the nature of disease
and of medicine. The home is ordinarily a mud-hut
of one or two rooms in which are huddled together
from five to ten people. The floor is used for chairs,
tables, sofas, and beds. The oven is used for cooking
purposes and the smoke escapes through a small hole
in the roof. Heat is almost impossible in these homes.
The water is most frequently impure, carried from a
stream which flows through the city or village and
into which the refuse is not infrequently dumped.
What would home treatment amount to, under circum-
stances like these, even in this country ?
These conditions make most imperative the hospital
treatment of all diseases. The problem of bringing
the sick to the hospital is more easily solved than that
of treating the people in their homes.
412 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Almost every year some part of the country is visited
by the cholera. It destroys lives by the thousands.
It only lasts five or six weeks in the summer months.
Smallpox is a disease in childhood, and mostly of
the pustulant kind; occasionally the hemorrhagic type
occurs. There is a great eye trouble. You will see
many people blind from infectious disease, such as
granulated lids and ophthalmia neonatorum. Of
surgery there is very little practiced. Many of these
diseases of the eye are cataracts, a removal of the
deposit, the cataract bean, gives sight, and so many
of these people might be given their sight if there were
one who could serve them by the knowledge of medicine
and surgery as taught in America. There is no country
that is so deplorably deficient in the knowledge of
medicine and surgery as Persia. While there are some
native physicians who declare themselves pupils of
Galen and Hippocrates, called by them Jalenoos and
Bocrat, their practice is a mixture of the most wretched
empiricism, with the exhibition of a few samples,
the qualities of which experience has taught them.
They classify diseases into four divisions — hot, cold,
moist and dry — and this in the most arbitrary manner,
on no apparent principle. They combat each disease
by an application of an opposite tendency. A gentle-
man in Persia whose servant was unwell consulted
a native physician. "Sir," said the doctor, "the
patient's illness arises from sixteen different causes.
Now, in this pill, which I mean to give, there are six-
teen different ingredients, so arranged that each will
operate upon its respective cause, and thus cure your
servant," the virtues of the remedy being as vaguely
determined as the nature of the disorder. They are
Need 413
totally ignorant of anatomy, and unacquainted with
the circulation of the blood, so that their proficiency
in surgery is no greater than their knowledge of med-
icine; and when patients recover under their hands,
it is to be attributed to soundness of constitution
rather than to any ability of treatment on the part of
the professional attendant.
There are persons, among the tribes particularly
who pretend to hereditary powers of curing certain
distempers. Sir John Malcolm mentions a chief named
Hedayut Koili Khan, who banished agues by tying
his patients up by the heels when the periodical attack
was approaching, applying the bastinado severely and
abusing them bitterly all the time — a process which, he
asserted, produced "heat and terror, instead of a cold
fit."
The following case will give us an idea of their
estimation of the scientific physician; it is related by
a traveler in Persia: The patient was a little boy
aged twelve, named Khan Mirza, who was suffering
from paralysis and wasting of the arms and legs.
When I had completed my examination of him and
heard the history of his sickness, I knew that I could
do nothing for him, and as gently as possible told
his father and mother, who had brought him to me,
that I was powerless to help them, adding that I was
doubtful whether the best physicians in Firangistan
with the best appliances at their disposal could restore
him to health.
"Sahib," they wailed, "we know that you can cure
him if you like. We are only poor peasants, and we
cannot reward you as you have a right to expect, but
414 Persia, the Land of the Magi
tell us what sum of money will satisfy you, and if
possible we will obtain it."
I told them that to cure their child it was not money
I wanted but the power of working miracles. "Can
you believe me," I concluded, "when I tell you that
I would rejoice to help you if I could, but that it is
beyond my skill, and not mine only, but that of the
greatest physicians of our country? I neither desire
nor would consent to accept your money, but I have
no right to deceive you with false hopes. Surely you
must understand that there are diseases which no
physician can heal, and that, for instance, when the
ejel comes, Jalenoos and Bocrat themselves have no
resource but to say, there is no strength and no power
save in God the Supreme, the Mighty!"
"You speak truly," answered the father; "but that
only holds good of death."
" How then," said I, "does it come to pass that even
amongst the rich there are blind and deaf and halt and
dumb persons, who would give any price to be restored
to health if they could find one to cure them, but who
go down to their graves unhealed?"
"It is because they cannot get hold of a physician
like you," replied the man. In the face of such faith
what could one do but make up a prescription which
if it were not likely to do much good could at least
do no harm.
When a traveler gets near to the gate of a city in the
Orient, the first thing that attracts his attention is the
voice of the blind beggars who sit on either side of the
road and cry for help. As you go farther on and enter
into the city, there are seen not only blind beggars, but
also helpless cripples and half-naked creatures full of
Need 415
sores and repulsive deformities of various sorts, who
sit at every street corner, public place, all pleading for
help in their need, again and again. It is an ancient
custom of putting sick and diseased on the street or
public square, so the passer-by may be of help to him,
in word or deed. Sometimes they think that if each
person take a part of the disease soon the diseased
will get well. We have the words of Isaiah, the prophet
to Israel,saying of the Messiah," He took our infirmities,
and bare our diseases." In the time of Christ, Mark
6: 56, it is said, "Whithersoever He entered, into
villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the
streets, and besought Him that they might touch
if it were but the border of His garment ; and as many
as touched Him were made whole."
In the human ministry of Jesus Christ wherever
He went to teach and preach there they brought to
Him all sick people that were taken with divers dis-
eases and torments, and those which were possessed
with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy ; and He healed them. Matt. 4: 24.
When Jesus sent out His apostles in His name and
for His work "He gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
disease." Matt. 10: 1. Among the people more
(nine in ten) of Christ's miracles were medical
miracles, miracles applied to derangements of the
human system.
The news of a medical doctor is a news of joy for
those who have been suffering. They really believe
he is sent of God to cure them. So it will not be long
before the door is blockaded with the diseased. Some
have come ten, twenty miles, to see the doctor. To
416 Persia, the Land of the Magi
give aid to such persons is considered a heavenly
blessing.
Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop's testimony is that "no
one follows in the Master's footsteps so closely as the
medical missionary. The medical mission is the out-
come of the living teachings of our faith. In healing,
helping, blessing; softening prejudice, diminishing
suffering, making an end of many of the cruelties
which proceed from ignorance; restoring sight to the
blind, limbs to the crippled, health to the sick, telling
in every word of love and of consecrated skill, of the
infinite compassion of Him who came 'not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them.' " Luke 9: 56.
The ministry of healing is Christlike. There is not
a language and scarcely a dialect in which the match-
less parable of the Good Samaritan has not served to
interpret the true meaning of the Golden Rule. Can
we not interest you in this work? We want you to
have a part in it. If you will write us, we shall be
glad to reply. The medical mission was inaugurated
by our Lord Himself as a proof of His divine ministry
when He "healed all that were sick: that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
our sicknesses." Matt. 8: 16, 17.
CHAPTER XX.
Persian Stories.
the real beauty.
ONCE there was a king who disguised himself in
the costume of a dervish and went around among
his subjects to see if they were happy and if justice
was properly administered by his officers. In doing
so it happened that once he became the guest of a
weaver who had a very beautiful wife. The king was
very much impressed by her beauty and repeated his
visits so often that both the weaver and his wife dis-
covered that he was not a dervish but their king in
disguise, and that he was altogether too much pleased
by her beauty. The weaver's wife colored some eggs
— several of them she dyed in very beautiful rich
colors, and several of them were not so pretty. When
the supposed dervish came again she placed all of
the colored eggs before him and asked which of them
he thought the prettiest. He, of course, picked out
the pretty, bright-colored ones. She then asked him to
remove the shell from all of them. When he had done
so she asked, "Which are the most beautiful now?"
He, of course, replied that they were all alike. So it
is with women, she told him; some appear beautiful,
some do not, but remove their outward adornments
and they are all alike — real beauty is in the intellect,
the soul. Then the king understood that they had
found out who he was and why he came so often, and
(417)
418 Persia, the Land of the Magi
he respected her wisdom and repented for the evil
designs he had cherished in regard to her, and appointed
her husband his vizier.
A BOY ON SHIPBOARD.
A king was sitting in a vessel with a Persian slave.
The boy having never before seen the sea, nor experi-
enced the inconvenience of a ship, began to cry and
lament, and his whole body was in a tremor. Not-
withstanding all the soothings that were offered, he
would not be pacified. The king was much annoyed,
but no remedy could be found. A philosopher, who
was in the ship, said, "If you will command me, I will
silence him." The king replied, "It will be an act of
great kindness." The philosopher then threw the boy
into the sea, and after several plunges, they laid hold
of the hair of his head and dragging him towards the
ship he clung to the rudder with both hands.
When he got out of the water he sat down quietly
in a corner of the vessel. The king was pleased, and
asked how this was brought about. The philosopher
replied, "At first he never experienced the danger of
being drowned; neither knew he the safety of a ship."
In like manner, he knoweth the value of prosperity
who hath encountered adversity.
THE MUEZZIN S VOICE.
A certain muezzin in the mosque had so harsh a
voice that his call to prayer only kept the worshipers
away from the service. The prince, who was the
The Ungrateful Wrestler 419
patron of the mosque, being tender-hearted and not
wishing to offend the man, gave him ten dinars to
go somewhere else, and the gift was gladly accepted.
Some time afterward the fellow returned to the prince
and complained that an injustice had been done him
by the smallness of the donation, "for," said he, "at
the place where I now am they offered me twenty
dinars to go somewhe e else and I will not accept
it." "Ah," laughed the prince, "don't accept it, for
if you stay longer they will be glad to offer you fifty."
THE UNGRATEFUL WRESTLER.
A person had arrived at the head of his profession
in the art of wrestling; he knew three hundred and
sixty capital sleights in this art, and every day exhibited
something new; but having a sincere regard for a
beautiful youth, one of his scholars, he taught him
three hundred and fifty-nine sleights, reserving, how-
ever, one sleight to himself. The youth excelled so
much in skill and in strength, that no one was able
to cope with him. He at length boasted, before the
Sultan, that the superiority which he allowed his
master to maintain over him was out of respect to his
years, and the consideration of having been his in-
structor; for otherwise he was not inferior in strength
and was his equal in point of skill. The king did not
approve of this disrespectful conduct, and commanded
that there should be a trial of skill. An extensive spot
was appointed for the occasion. The ministers of
state and other grandees of the court were in attend-
ance. The youth, like a lustful elephant, entered with
420 Persia, the Land oj the Magi
a percussion that would have moved from its base a
mountain of iron. The master, being sensible that the
youth was his superior in strength, attacked with the
sleight which he had kept to himself. The youth not
being able to repel it, the master with both hands
lifted him from the ground, and raising him over his
head flung him on the earth. The multitude shouted.
The king commanded that a dress, and a reward in
money, should be bestowed upon the master, and
reproved and derided the youth for having presumed to
put himself in competition with his benefactor, and
for having failed in the attempt. He said, "O king,
my master did not gain the victory over me through
strength or skill; but there remained a small part in
the art of wrestling which he had withheld from me,
and by that small feint he got the better of me." The
master observed, "I reserved it for such an occasion
as the present; the sages having said, 'Put not your-
self so much in the power of your friend, that if he
should be disposed to be inimical, he may be able to
effect his purpose.' Have you not heard what was
said by a person who had suffered injury from one
whom he had educated ? ' Either there never was any
gratitude in the world, or else no one at this time
practices it. I never taught any one the art of archery
who in the end did not make a butt of me.' "
THE STORY OF CYRUS THE GREAT WHILE A BOY.
King Astyages had a remarkable dream which his
soothsayers interpreted to mean that his grandson
born of Madane was destined to become king of Media.
Astyages, fearing that his grandson might dethrone
Story of Cyrus the Great While a Boy 421
him, decided to have the child put to death. Accord-
ingly, he secured the child and handed him over to
Harpagus, his most trusted servant, with instruc-
tions to have him put to death without fail. Har-
pagus promised, but dared not carry out the order
himself. He handed the child to a mountain shep-
herd with strict orders to put the child to death and
to show the dead body to his servants as evidence that
the deed had been done. The shepherd took the child
to his home. His wife, who was mourning the death
of her own child, persuaded her husband to expose
their own dead child and to keep the royal child as
their own. This was done. The servants of Harpagus
were shown the dead body of the shepherd's son and
reported to Harpagus that the child had verily been
put to death, for they had seen the body exposed.
After ten years the children of the village were
playing one day and chose this shepherd's son (Cyrus)
to be their king. One of the sons of a nobleman
refused to obey the king's orders, and the boy-king
accordingly had him severely scourged. The boy, as
often happens, ran crying to his father, who at once
complained to King Astyages. He summoned the
boy-king Cyrus and inquired why he had presumed
to scourge the son of a nobleman. Cyrus replied,
"When your subjects refuse to obey your orders what
do you do?" "I punish them, of course," replied the
king. "And that is what I did," said Cyrus. "The
boys chose me king and I simply enforced the king's
orders." The beauty, talents, and intelligence of the
boy showed plainly that he was not the son of the
herdsman. Upon inquiry the truth was made known
to Astyages, who feared greatly and would have put
422 Persia, the Land of the Magi
Cyrus to death, but the soothsayers persuaded him
that he need not fear, for Cyrus had already been
king, and the dream perhaps had no other or deeper
meaning.
The king accordingly spared his life and became
very fond of him. Cyrus grew up at the king's court
and became a brave and popular youth, excelling in
all manly sports. His grandfather, Astyages, was
much given to drinking and feasting. On one occa-
sion Cyrus was to serve as his butler and hand him his
wine. As Cyrus handed the king the cup he neglected
to touch it with his lips, as the custom was. The
king asked for the reason of this omission. Cyrus
replied, "There is poison in the cup." The king, in
great agitation, asked how he knew that. "Because,"
said Cyrus, "yesterday I saw you drink the same
poison until you were unable to walk and you spoke
very foolishly." The king, however, was not afraid
of that poison.
A BARBER AT BAGDAD.
In the reign of the Caliph Haroun al Rashid, of
happy memory, lived in the city of Bagdad a cele-
brated barber of the name of Ali Sakal. He was so
famous for a steady hand and dexterity in his profes-
sion, that he could shave a head and trim a beard and
whiskers with his eyes blindfolded, without once
drawing blood. There was not a man of any fashion
at Bagdad who did not employ him, and such a run
of business had he that at length he became proud and
insolent, and would scarcely ever touch a head whose
master was not at least a Beg or an Aga. Wood for
A Barber at Bagdad 423
fuel was always scarce and dear at Bagdad, and as
his shop consumed a great deal, the wood-cutters
brought their loads to his in preference, almost sure
of meeting with a ready sale. It happened one day
that a poor wood-cutter, new in his profession and
ignorant of the character of Ali Sakal, went to his
shop and offered him for sale a load of wood, which
he had just brought from a considerable distance in
the country on his ass. Ali immediately offered him
a price, making use of the words, "For all the wood
that is upon the ass." The wood-cutter agreed,
unloaded his beast, and asked for the money. "You
have not given me all the wood yet," said the barber,
"I must have the pack-saddle (which is chiefly made
of wood) into the bargain, that was our agreement."
"How," said the other, in great amazement, "who
ever heard of such a bargain? It is impossible." In
short, after many words, and much altercation, the
overbearing barber seized the pack-saddle, wood and
all, and sent away the poor person in great distress.
He immediately ran to the Cadi and stated his griefs ;
the Cadi was one of the barber's customers and refused
to hear his case. The wood-cutter applied to a higher
judge; he also patronized Ali Sakal and made light
of the complaint. The poor man then appealed to
the Mufti himself, who, having pondered over the
question, at length settled that it was too difficult a
case for him to decide, no provision being made for it
in the Koran; and therefore he must put up with his
loss. The wood-cutter was not disheartened, but
forthwith got a scribe to write a petition to the Caliph
himself, which he duly presented on Friday, the day
when he went in state to the mosque. The Caliph's
424 Persia, the Land of the Magi
punctuality in reading petitions is well known, and it
was not long before the wood-cutter was called to his
presence. When he had approached the Caliph, he
kneeled and kissed the ground, and then, placing his
arms straight before him, his hands covered with the
sleeves of his cloak, and his feet close together, he
awaited the decision of his case. "Friend," said the
Caliph, "the barber has words on his side, you have
equity on yours. The law must be denned by words,
and agreements must be made by words; the former
must have its course, or it is nothing; and agree-
ments must be kept, or there would be no faith between
man and man. Therefore the barber must keep all
his wood, but — " Then calling the wood-cutter close
to him, the Caliph whispered something in his ear,
which none but he could hear, and then sent him away
quite satisfied.
Here, then, Kalmdor, or the story teller, made a
pause in his narrative and said (whilst he extended a
small tin cup which he held in his hand), "Now, my
noble audience, if you will give me something I will
tell you what the Caliph said to the wood-cutter." He
had excited a great curiosity, and there was scarcely
one of his hearers who did not give him a piece of
money.
"Well, then," said he, "the Caliph whispered to the
wood-cutter what he was to do, in order to get satis-
faction from the barber, and what that was I will now
relate. The wood-cutter having made his obeisances,
returned to his ass, which was tied without, took it
by the halter and proceeded to his home. A few days
after, he applied to the barber, as if nothing had
happened between them, requesting that he and a com-
A Barber at Bagdad 425
panion of his from the country might enjoy the dex-
terity of his hand, and the price at which both opera-
tions were to be performed was settled. When the
wood-cutter's crown had been properly shorn, Ali
Sakal asked where his companion was. 'He is just
standing without here,' said the other, 'and he shall
come in presently.' Accordingly he went out and
returned, leading his ass after him by the halter.
'This is my companion,' said he, 'and you must shave
him.' 'Shave him!' exclaimed the barber in the
greatest surprise; 'it is enough that I have consented
to demean myself by touching you, and do you insult
me by asking me to do as much for your ass? Away
with you, or I will send you both to Jehanum,' and
forthwith drove them out of his shop.
"The wood-cutter immediately went to the Caliph,
was admitted to his presence, and related his case.
"Tis well,' said the commander of the faithful;
'bring Ali Sakal with his razors to me this instant,'
he exclaimed to one of his officers; and in the course
of ten minutes the barber stood before him. 'Why
do you refuse to shave this man's companion?' said
the Caliph to the barber. ' Was not that your agree-
ment?' Ali, kissing the ground, answered, "Tis
true, O Caliph, that such was our agreement, but who
ever made a companion of an ass before? or who ever
before thought of treating it like a true believer?'
'You may say right,' said the Caliph, 'but at the
same time, who ever thought of insisting upon a pack-
saddle being included in a load of wood? No, no;
it is the wood-cutter's turn now. To the ass imme-
diately, or you know the consequences.' The barber
was then obliged to prepare a great quantity of soap,
426 Persia, the Land of the Magi
to lather the beast from head to foot, and to shave
him in the presence of the Caliph and the whole court,
whilst he was jeered and mocked by the taunts and
laughing of all the bystanders. The poor wood-cutter
was then dismissed with an appropriate present of
money, and all Bagdad resounded with the story, and
celebrated the justice of the commander of the
faithful."
THE END.
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HIGHSMITH 45-102 PRIN TED IN U. S. A.
DS258 N97 1913
Nweeya, Samuel Kasha, 1876-
Persia the land of the magi,
or, The home of the wise
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
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